The following is a CODEX Chapter. This might be one of the first 'semi-mandatory' CODEX updates. Semi-mandatory in the sense that most of it is just a quick recap and bio of all the recurring characters, so that they're easier to keep track of (especially outside of the main cast). If you don't feel like reading that's fine and feel free to skip, but I do recommend at least checking out the character index.
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Mobile Suit/Mass Effect
Re: UC 0376 - 4
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Character Index
Main Cast - Humans
(The main characters that we follow)
Irena Kreusgluck (POV Character): Sole daughter to a middle-class merchant family in Arcturus Station, Irena serves as a Lieutenant in the Congressional Space Force leading a mobile suit team leader aboard the Chariot Class Cruiser Risima. She has recently been given charge of a Gundam and transferred to an all-Gundam team, still aboard Risima.
Date and Location of Birth: 7 August, UC 0355, Carter Baird Memorial Hospital, Arcturus Station.
Education: John Grissom Military Institute, Arcturus Station.
Occupation: Lieutenant, Congressional Space Force.
Origin: D-Block, District 13, Arcturus Station
Appearance: 5'6ft tall (167cm), long silver hair, pale blue eyes.
Hobbies and Interests: Comics, Films, 21st Century AD Music.
Verns Hedder: The fourth child from a gaggle of eight, Verns was born to the prestigious Hedder family - an extremely influential clan in Shanxi politics. He joined the military against his father's wishes, serving in the cruiser Risima as a mobile suit team leader. As a young boy, Verns initially showed promising Newtype potential, but later testing in his teens saw that his abilities did not meet the standards set by the Solar Newtype Institute, thus disqualifying him from being legally considered one.
Date and Location of Birth: 12 February, UC 0355, Siloam Hospital, Port Tsingtao, Shanxi.
Education: Mount Glenn University, Port Tsingtao
Occupation: Lieutenant, Congressional Space Force.
Origin: Mount Glenn, Port Tsingtao, Shanxi
Appearance: 6'2ft tall (188cm), medium blonde hair, blue eyes (covered by prescription goggles).
Hobbies and interests: Earth History, Films, non-fiction Books.
Dera Bullow: Hailing from the space station Island 12, orbiting New Cyrene, Bullow grew up idolizing her uncle who had joined the Space Force. She followed in his footsteps later and served admirably, though a major mistake during a military operation nearly ended her career prematurely.
Date and Location of Birth: 25 June, UC 0353, All Faiths Clinic, Island 12, Side 7, Earth Sphere.
Education: Tember City University, New Cyrene.
Occupation: Lieutenant, Congressional Space Force.
Origin: V-Block, District 4, Island 12 Station, Side 7, Earth Sphere
Appearance: 5'10ft tall (178cm), short dark blue hair, steel grey eyes.
Hobbies and interests: Non-Fiction Books, Classical 15th-18th Century AD Music, Cooking.
Rosen Springs: A child soldier from the ranks of Golden Beacon, Rosen was yet another young girl caught up in events far beyond her understanding. She was drafted into the secessionist group early on, practically the moment she could pilot a mobile suit.
Date and Location of Birth: 31 October, UC 0363, somewhere in the Yunnan Sphere, Greater Shanxi Sphere.
Education: Informal education, Mobile Suit Pilot apprenticeship.
Occupation: Mobile Suit Specialist, Golden Beacon
Origin: No location on record.
Appearance: 5'2ft tall (158cm), Short black hair with red highlights, silver eyes.
Hobbies and Interests: Games, 21st Century AD Music, Comic Books, Machinery
Important Recurring Characters - Humans
(Human side characters that play important roles in the overall story, but aren't the primary focus)
Itami Koda: Space Force Captain, the original CO of the CSS Risima, was sent on extended medical leave due to injuries he sustained during First Contact, forcing Bullow to take command of the ship.
Origin: Kyoto, Japan, Asia Pacific Administrative Region, Earth
Appearance: 5'10ft tall (178cm), short buzzcut hair, brown eyes
Hauberk Meslam: Space Force Admiral, in charge of the entire Shanxi Theater of Operations. His stern demeanor and detail-oriented work ethic belie the fact that he gives his subordinates incredible leeway in how they get their missions done.
Origin: Christmas, Elysium.
Appearance: 5'5ft tall (165cm), short greying brown hair, green eyes
Cinder Autumn: Space Force Commodore, in charge of the Outer Shanxi Sphere of operations. Born to an impoverished family, her ambition and desire for a more meaningful life lead her to join the Space Force. Despite not being a native of Shanxi, she's grown to call it her own home and has vowed to defend it at all costs.
Origin: Mantle Station, Terra Nova Sphere.
Appearance: 5'10ft tall (178cm), long black hair, amber eyes (left eye covered by eyepatch).
Tai Wen-Li: Space Force Captain and subordinate to Commodore Autumn, formerly in charge of the Battlecruiser Milo, now in charge of the Battleship Amber Celica. Obsessed with studying history, joined the Space Force hoping to become a military historian in the New Taiyuan Military Institute but got redirected into officer training after he overperformed compared to the rest of his class.
Origin: New Taiyuan, Shanxi.
Appearance: 6'2ft (188cm), short dirty blonde hair, dark blue eyes.
Reinhard Lohengrinn: The youngest member of the Space Force Admiralty, it's an open secret that he rapidly rose through the ranks due to his connections with the Minister of Defense. That being said, his genuine talent as a commanding officer means his detractors have to begrudgingly accept that he deserves his spot as the commander of the Odin Mobile Fleet.
Origin: Neue Sanssouci, Odin, Valhalla System.
Appearance: 6'2ft (188cm), medium golden blonde hair, light blue eyes
Kastanie Drescher: Perhaps the most well-decorated admiral in the Post-Crisis era leading up to the First Contact War, she commands the Arcturus Fleet with extremely high standards... which makes it all the more confusing how she is such close friends with the laid-back and laissez-faire Admiral Bardford.
Origin: Lowell City, Side A, Mars.
Appearance: 5'9ft tall (175cm), long red hair, light green eyes.
Lionel Bardford: Out of all the admirals in the Space Force, Bardford may very well be the one that stands out the most due to how out of place he looked. His unimpressive appearance and presence, as well as his fast and loose policy with regulations, hides the fact that he is one of the most aggressive and ruthless commanders in the force, completely willing to use underhanded tactics if he thinks the situation calls for it.
Origin: Slough, England, British Administrative Zone, Earth.
Appearance: 5'9ft tall (175cm), messy short black hair, dark grey eyes.
Lena Eilling: The director of Shanxi's Atlas Point, she was entrusted to safeguard the colony's share of humanity's most dangerous and advanced technologies. Her flair for theatrics is often a source of nuisance for her peers. Meanwhile, her grandmotherly conduct with her subordinates has led to them affectionately calling her 'Boss Lady' or 'Grammaw' behind her back.
Origin: San Aria City, Iscandar, Salazar System.
Appearance: 5'6 (168cm), greying blonde hair, purple-blue eyes.
Saffira Hedder: The third child of the Hedder family, she originally wanted to join the Port Tsingtao Police Department as a way to serve the community, but was talked out of it by her parents. She instead joined the Congressional Intelligence Service after having convinced her parents that an intel desk job would be far less dangerous than being a police officer.
Origin: Port Tsingtao, Shanxi.
Appearance: 6'0ft tall (182cm), long golden blonde hair, light blue eyes (covered by tinted prescription glasses).
Isaac Oswin: Current leader of the armed secessionist organization 'Golden Beacon', he has decided to support the Congressional Forces against the aliens, in exchange for the Shanxi Sphere's semi-independence from the Solar Sphere.
Origin: Luliang Archipelago, Shanxi
Appearance: 6'6 (198cm), grey slicked black hair, brown eyes (behind clear glasses).
Recurring Background Characters - Humans
(Human side or background characters whose overall influence on the plot is minor or negligible)
Arno Derrick: The chief flight technician aboard Risima
Claude Barcus: Vice chief flight technician aboard Risima
Elric Kessler: Junior bridge crew aboard Risima, in charge of comms and sensors
Janet Keegan: Bridge crew aboard Risima, in charge of anti-air defense direction
Adalbart Winslow: Chief engineer aboard Risima.
Annabelle Mare: Chief gunnery officer aboard Risima.
Neath Ren: Captain of the CSS Montgomery Oum, a senior member of the Shanxi Space Force Tea Enthusiasts Club
Helio Lawrence: Captain of the CSS Ivan Darrian, is a lightweight when it comes to alcohol though that doesn't stop her from enjoying it
Oleg Petrovsky: Captain of the 75th Rangers - Able Company
Jaime Ramirez: Platoon leader in the 75th Rangers - Able Company
Willibard Schoenkopf: Squad leader in the 303rd Army Division
Neidhard Muller: General in charge of the Army divisions stationed in the Port Tsingtao Military District.
Matthieu Fosh: Senior manager in Sunfish Logistics
Gertrude Pike: Commodore in charge of Atlas Station's patrol flotilla.
Robert Lapp: Captain of the CSS Akuo and close friend of Captain Tai Wen-Li
Enna Marigold: Field Marshall and overall commander of the Congressional Terrestrial Forces in Shanxi. Went missing in action for a while after a Turian cruiser crashed into her headquarters at the start of the invasion.
Shen Sujett: Head of the Shanxi Colonial Defense Forces. Died in the initial ground invasion.
Konrad Hedder: Patriarch of the Hedder family and the Deguan representative to the Shanxi Congress. Has his hands full organizing relief efforts for civilians displaced by the war.
Sasha Hedder: Matriarch of the Hedder family, went to visit her mother in Iscandar just as the war kicked off.
Gillian Hedder: Firstborn and current heir to the Hedder family, followed his father's footsteps and went into politics.
Welkin Hedder: Secondborn of the Hedder family, was in the middle of working on his PhD before the war forced him to delay.
Noir Hedder: Fifthborn of the Hedder family, dropped out of college to open a flower boutique in Port Tsingtao.
Erik and Erin Hedder: the Sixth and seventhborn of the Hedder family, would've started their first semester in college if the war hadn't started.
Merry Hedder: Eighthborn of the Hedder family, continuing her studies as normal because her parents shifted her to a homeschooling program a few months before the war kicked off by coincidence.
Able Williams: Major General in the Congressional Army, in charge of the military forces around the New Taiyuan Military District. He made the difficult decision to withdraw his forces from New Taiyuan after an alien cruiser crashed into Long Mountain and Field Marshall Marigold went MIA, crippling the army's command and control structure.
Fyodor Patrichev: An Admiral of the Congressional Navy, in charge of the Deguan South Seas Fleet, which oversees patrol and defenses of the Deguan South Sees, south of Deguo.
Bartholomew Lutz: Head of the Deguo Colonial Defense Forces.
Important Characters - Aliens - Turians
(The main cast of Turian characters, particularly ones that play important roles in the narrative)
Herac Magarius: A commodore of the Turian Navy, he was thrust into a leadership position in the 314 Expedition at the behest of Castis Vakarian and Argus Fedorian in hopes of counterbalancing the Old Breed faction's heavy-handed tendencies. His own misgivings of the Expedition have not stopped him from persecuting it to the best of his ability.
Origin: Vallum, Taetrus.
Appearance: Yellow-brown plates, red face paint.
Larian Vienas: A former test pilot and now a rising star in the Turian Special Naval Landing Force, his display of skill and talent has made him a symbol of hope and envy among the Expeditionary Forces... much to his chagrin. Became second in command of the 2nd Turian SNLF group after their disastrous landing. Incredibly protective of his subordinates which fuels his resentment of both Turian High Command and Humanity simultaneously.
Origin: Jubal City, Triginta Petra.
Appearance: Grey-brown plates, blue face paint.
Castis Vakarian: As the head of the Internal Security Bureau, he is far more concerned with the growing political divide within the Turian Empire than with the expedition abroad. His pragmatic and non-dogmatic approach to politics has made him allies with both the Old Breed and Reformer factions, with which he hopes to keep the Empire from tearing itself apart.
Origin: Tinaion, Palaven.
Appearance: Yellow-grey plates, blue face paint.
Caius Lacinius: As the head of state of the Turian Empire, as well as the Commander in Chief of its military, he held powers that many other races would call dictatorial. While normally willing to compromise when necessary, the appearance of the 314 incident has caused him to become paranoid and obsessed with neutralizing what he believes to be a new Rachni or Krogan-level threat.
Origin: Ollania, Macedyn.
Appearance: Yellow-grey plates, red face paint.
Recurring Background Characters - Aliens - Turians
(Turian characters whose overall contribution or influence on the plot is limited)
Arius Cassandor: A former scholar turned Turian Councilor, he serves as the primary representative of his race to the Galaxy. He's one of the top donors to the Presidium History Museum.
Doro Sparatus: The secondary representative of the Turians to the galaxy, he has the difficult task of handling most administrative tasks that the Turian Councilor doesn't have the time to deal with.
Corvo Taran: Turian Mobile Suit pilot in the SNLF and subordinate to Lieutenant Larian.
Vespasian Corinthus: Former second in command and now overall commander of the 2nd Turian Special Naval Landing Force after his direct superior died during planetary entry.
Ivo Tantulas: Turian Army General in charge of the land invasion of the Deguo Continent.
Tera Abrudas: Turian Army Colonel and subordinate to General Tantulas.
Traxus Sovennes: A General of the Turian Special Naval Landing Forces, particularly the group meant to land and take over the Xinzhou continent.
Junius Sorka: Turian Internal Security Bureau agent serving in the Fort Zere office
Pellaeon Marro: Another Turian Internal Security Bureau agent serving in the Fort Zere office
Laiel Istvan: An ISB Enforcement Agent. She's a particular favorite of Castis Vakarian's, largely because of her reliability and no-bullshit attitude. Serves as team leader for field operations.
Landau Gren: An ISB Enforcement Agent assigned as Castis Vakarian's bodyguard. Also doubles as an aide when the situation calls for it. Mostly keeps to himself.
Nero Barbus: An ISB Senior Investigator and direct subordinate of Castis Vakarian. He's head of the Army Affairs side of the Investigation Division.
Kyserius Pullo: A General in the Turian Army and a person of interest in an ongoing investigation by the Internal Security Bureau. He's an outspoken member of the Reformer faction in the Turian military.
Tito Sionus: An officer in the Turian Army and subordinate of General Kyserius Pullo.
Cordo Haliat: A Commodore in the Turian Navy, head of the Explorator Scout fleet.
"Yellow Stripes": A Turian Mobile Suit ace who has the uncanny ability to slip away from certain death, every single time.
Bassus Calradian: A Turian army Mechanized Trooper, assigned to New Taiyuan garrison duties. His surrendering to the Congressional forces led to mass surrenders by Turian troops who were surrounded in the New Taiyuan Port Authority building.
Janus Pyrus: The captain of a Turian Mechanized Company, part of the New Taiyuan occupation force. His subordinates mutinied against him when he tried to stop Bassus from surrendering.
Recurring Background Characters - Aliens - Others
(Non-Turian alien background characters whose influence on the overall plot is limited)
Tevos Hanaya: Asari Councilor, opposed the expedition to subdue the humans. Broke ground by being the youngest Asari to take the Councilorship at 628 Years Old.
Irissa Aphanai: Asari ambassador, also relatively young for someone in her position at 455 years old. Would later admit that if she were the Asari Councilor at the time, she would choose to support Primarch Lacinius' expedition.
Merai Dillinaga: More commonly known as 'Dillinaga the Younger'. Daughter and successor to Arryn Dillinaga who was founder and first Commandant of the Asari Huntress Corps. Merai became a major player in the Asari Military Industrial Complex after retiring from her term as Commandant and is extremely supportive of Primarch Lacinius' expedition to subdue the humans.
Toraph Linron: Salarian Councilor, former STG, trained and mentored by Jonu Sidarte - the controversial Salarian Councilor who ordered the development and deployment of the Genophage. He surprised everyone when he voted to oppose Primarch Lacinius' expedition.
Ragu Callo: The current Salarian Ambassador, comes from a financial background - a drastic and surprising change compared to the line of military officers and cutthroat politicians that came before him.
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Location Index
Important Recurring Locations
(Locations that are important or play a major role in the story)
Colony Planet - Shanxi: A mixed industrial-agrarian world, Shanxi stands in the furthest frontier of the Solar Sphere Congress, directly bordering uncharted space. It was one of the last planets to be colonized, just before a major economic recession hit, one which sowed the seeds for the Secession Crisis. Shanxi's climate varies wildly between the almost tundra-like Northern Xinzhou to the tropical Luliang Islands. Since Shanxi sits on the hotter edge of the system's Goldilocks zone, its winters tend to be shorter, with snow falling for a few short weeks in between intense storm seasons.
Capital: New Taiyuan, Xinzhou
Administrative Districts:
Xinzhou Continent: The first continent to be colonized, it was first settled by migrants originating from Central China. These settlers would also settle most of the other landmasses. Xinzhou can largely be separated into two regions - the cold, dry, but mineral-rich north, and the fertile and hilly south.
Linfeng Continent: The second continent to be colonized, its smaller and more arid soil makes it a largely rural region compared to most of its neighbors. The first Linfeng settlers came from colonists who left Xinzhou to escape the cramped urban cities of the Southern territories of the continent.
Deguo Continent: The third continent to be colonized, it differs from its sister continents largely because it was settled by German, Czech, and Polish diasporas escaping their homes after the weapon satellite Angel Halo crashed into Central Europe. The combination of alpine terrain, mountainous landscape, and relatively high altitude makes this region one of the coldest in Shanxi. Also unlike its neighbors, Deguo isn't named after a region in Old Shanxi, instead named after the Chinese word for the German language.
Luliang Archipelago: The fourth region to be colonized, developed as a joint venture by a group of real estate corporations hoping to turn the islands into a holiday haven.
Shouzhou Continent: The last of the continents to be colonized, largely underdeveloped compared to all the rest. Historians believe this lack of development helped keep the Turian's attention away from it.
Locations of Interest:
New Taiyuan: The oldest and largest city in Shanxi, it was named after another city of the same name in Old China, which was almost entirely demolished during the intense fighting of the Solar War when debris from destroyed colonies rained on the city. The first settlers of New Taiyuan were old enough to remember the original city before its destruction.
Port Tsingtao: Built where Mount Glenn and the Kronenberg Bay meet, Port Tsingtao is the regional capital of the Deguo continent. Its founders picked the German name of the old Chinese city of Qingdao as a sign of solidarity with their Asiatic neighbors. Any complaints of the name's colonial origins were few and largely fell on deaf ears, considering it's been close to half a millennium since the decolonization of the original city.
Yuu Liang Spaceport: A coastal spaceport in the Xinzhou continent, initially designed to launch and recover Late AD era heavy launch vehicles. More recently converted to take modern HLVs and spaceships.
Atlas Point: A giant facility built over the Aster Sea between Xinzhou and Deguo. Acts as a vault for some of Humanity's most advanced and dangerous technologies, as well as a military transit point between the continents.
Argus Laboratories: Founded as a joint venture between Cydonia Mechanics and Annapolis Industrial Solutions, Argus Labs is an advanced research facility meant to study the relationships between Minovsky Particles and Mass Effect Fields.
Baise Base: A large Congressional Army Airbase carved into the side of the Mittermeier Mountains in Western Deguo. Houses most of the continent's ballistic missile silos, which can be used for defensive purposes (missile and asteroid defense) and offensive purposes (low-orbit anti-ship strikes and surface strikes)
Long Mountain: The Congressional Army's central headquarters for all of Shanxi, doubles as the Xinzhou continent's main garrison base and control center. Its location is only a few kilometers away from New Taiyuan.
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Colony Station - Risima: The central nexus of the Space Force presence in the Shanxi Inner Sphere, it houses the CSF's sectorial headquarters, the largest off-world mobile suit factory in the Inner Sphere, as well as the second largest military shipyard in the system.
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Military Space Station - Cassafaronga: A massive support facility in the Shanxi Outer Sphere, it houses the vast majority of Shanxi's mothballed ships, in addition to various supply stores and limited manufacturing facilities.
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Minor Locations - Human
(Human locations that are mentioned or exist in universe but play a small or negligible role in the overall plot)
Earth: Humanity's homeworld, once the center of all human civilization, now its importance is not that much different from the rest of the Solar Sphere. The homeworld's population was in a steady decline since the end of the Zanscare War, until it stabilized a few years after the Solar War. Recovery of the planet's declining climate has largely halted most reindustrialization plans, instead focusing on agrarian development. Post Solar War, Earth solidified itself as a major food exporter - an impressive feat considering the homeworld's history.
Luna: Earth's moon and the first capital of the Solar Sphere Congress. Slowly losing relevance since the SSC's political center was relocated to Arcturus Station, but remains an economic powerhouse.
Mars: Emerging as an industrial powerhouse after the CONSENT War, Mars was poised to become a leader in just almost every field save agriculture - further accelerated once terraforming efforts started seeing fruit. The devastating Solar War stalled this meteoric rise for a few decades, and by the time it recovered, Mars saw itself competing with various extra-solar colonies across the Solar Sphere. Despite this, Mars has never lost its relevance in the tech sector, seeing as the only major source of Prothean technology was built deep in the Martian South Pole.
Chariot Station: The most important tech hub in the Mars Sphere -or perhaps the whole Solar Sphere entirely- Chariot Station's construction was funded primarily by Cydonia Mechanics -a Mars based shipbuilding firm- which focuses on the studies of Prothean Mass Effect technology. In more recent years, it has branched out from shipbuilding to mobile suit production, creating the first Gundams of the Mass Effect age.
Mobile Colony Arcturus: As the moving capital of the Solar Sphere Congress, the Mobile Colony Arcturus was built from the ground up with multiple nuclear pulse engines to facilitate its movement when orbiting a celestial object. However, when moving between planetary spheres or when transiting to a new star system, a large squadron of FTL tugboats assist in transportation.
Iscandar: A major colony in the Salazar Star System, this planet is special in that it's in binary orbit with another habitable planet, the industrial world of Galman. Iscandar's mostly tropical climate, surrounded by vast seas filled to the brim with fish edible to humans, made it a mostly piscarian planet until the arrival of real estate developers which turned large batches of then uninhabited island chains into exclusive communities for the Solar Sphere's rich and powerful.
Galman: A major colony in the Salazar Star System, this planet is special in that it's in binary orbit with another habitable planet, the piscarian world of Iscandar. Being mostly cold and mostly tundra-like, Galman was developed into a powerful center of industry. Its vast sources of ores, crude oil, and other such resources, are fed directly into the massive city-sized factories that double as the planet's settlements. Because of its lack of fertile lands, Galman provides its sister world Iscandar with preferential prices for goods produced in Galman. In return, Iscandar sells its produce to Galman at heavily discounted prices.
New Cyrene: A major mining colony that was one of the earliest to be settled in the initial colonization wave. New Cyrene gained major relevance in Solar Sphere politics due to the discovery of vast veins of rare metals that were found in abnormal abundance.
Odin: Like their distant cousins in Shanxi's Deguo Continent, Odin was settled by a wave of people fleeing the devastated Central European territories. Due to the twin moons perfectly orbiting on opposite sides of the planet, it was decided that the planet would be named after the Nordic god of wisdom, foresight, and healing, Odin. The Odin of ancient legends was known to have two pet ravens -Huginn and Muninn- who served as Odin's sentries, and as such the planet's two moons were named after the birds of myths.
Yunnan: A gas giant sharing a star with the colony Shanxi, it has since seen colony stations placed in orbit in order to facilitate the extraction of Yunnan's vast stores of Helium-3.
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Author's Notes:
The lists here are not exhaustive, since I'm pretty sure I missed a few characters that I wrote as a one-off to fill a gap and can't remember the names of. I'll try to update the character entries after every new chapter.
The same goes with the locations list. Nowhere near complete since I haven't written anything for worlds like Elysium, Mindoir, Eden Prime, etc.
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THIS WORK IS CROSSPOSTED IN FFNET AND AO3