Nessinia Janis

**Nessinia Janis** is a xenobiologist, explorer and the former captain of the GSV Avalon in GUARDIAN. She currently serves as the Council Recovery Corps' Research & Development coordinator.

## Biography

### Early Life

Nessinia was born in Nos Astra in 2037 to Myrina Janis, her mother, and a salarian father. Both of her parents worked in the city, her mother as a stockbroker and her father as a pharmaceutical researcher. Her upbringing in Nos Astra and her mother’s business meant she was exposed to many different alien species from a young age and Nessinia quickly became fascinated with the other species that inhabited the galaxy, taking a great interest in their cultural and physical differences. Noticing her interest, her father began teaching the young asari some simple biology, sparking her interest in the field early in her life.

Nessinia was still very young when her father passed away in 2051. While this wasn’t unforeseen, the young asari still felt saddened by her father’s death since she was far closer to her father than her mother. Motivated by his influence, Nessinia took a great interest in biology and dedicated herself to this subject in school, particularly to learning about the biology of the various races throughout the galaxy. Unfortunately, as she grew older her relationship with her mother gradually worsened. The two were very different - Nessinia, like her father, had an analytical mind, while her mother was more fiery and emotional. As a result, they struggled to relate to each other and found it difficult to express love in a way that was mutually understood.

Their relationship took a turn for the worse when Nessinia finished school in 2083. After spending her school years dedicated to her studies, Nessinia finished school with high grades and a scholarship to study xenobiology at a prestigious university on Hyetiana, albeit having made very few friends. While her mother was pleased with her daughter for attaining such high grades, she was upset that her daughter was moving so far away and studying something she considered pointless and unprofitable, wanting her daughter to follow a more commercial career instead. When she made these thoughts known, Nessinia was outraged at her mother’s lack of support. This resulted in a heated argument where her mother proclaimed her refusal to support her daughter while Nessinia vowed to become nothing like her mother. By the time Nessinia was due to leave for Hyetiana, the two hadn’t made up and she departed the planet on non-speaking terms with her mother.

University was an uneventful time for Nessinia. During her university years, she dedicated herself to her studies, seldom taking time out to socialise. On occasion, she would drag herself to formal parties to make industry connections, but she did not end up making any close friends. By 2111, she had graduated with a Masters of Xenobiology, gaining an extensive knowledge of the field. Her mother did not receive an invite to her graduation, nor did Nessinia reach out to her during this time.

After attaining her Masters, Nessinia decided to remain at the university to obtain a doctorate. The Hyetiana Institute of Science and Technology funded her PhD, granting her the research opportunities and facilities needed to construct her thesis, while also providing her with a generous stipend to live off of. Once again, Nessinia dedicated herself to her studies. Over the next two decades, she gathered many samples of Hyetiana’s wildlife to analyse in the labs, spending most of her time in solitude. By 2132 she’d completed her thesis on the ‘Rates and Patterns of Molecular Evolution for Documenting Hyetiana’s Phyla’, and was awarded a doctorate after presenting this.

### Post Doctorate

With her doctorate complete, Nessinia was offered employment at the institute as a researcher. However, after a few years she began to grow restless, as asari maidens tend to do. While Hyetiana provided plenty of interesting wildlife for her to research, what she really wanted to do was travel and study new species on different planets. By then, she had amassed a decent amount of credits in her savings - never having been one for “frivolous pleasures”, the majority of her PhD stipend and now her wage went into her savings.

In 2136, she finally decided it was time to pursue this ambition and gathered up her credits, leaving her research position in the process. After purchasing the necessary scientific equipment she would need, Nessinia left Hyetiana and began her expedition. Over the following years, she travelled to many colonies, gathering data by surveying and documenting the local lifeforms. Although she greatly enjoyed this lifestyle, without a paying job it was unsustainable. By 2142, she had run out of money and returned to Hyetiana with the remaining credits she had left, forced to look for a job once again.

Once she’d returned to Hyetiana, Nessinia immediately sought out employment. She quickly landed a job in a small research firm that attempted to adapt medical treatments to multiple species, putting her skills in xenobiology to good use. After working there for a few years, Nessinia met a salarian called Eral Amik, who started working for the company in 2146. The two quickly became close, bonding over their research, and before long she was developing feelings for him. After a brief confession that revealed Eral returned her feelings, the two began dating, spending much time together both inside and outside of work.

Ecstatic to finally have someone who would listen to her talk about her research, Nessinia shared with him the data she’d spent many years collecting during her travels, explaining she intended to use it for a paper on whether there were any evolutionary similarities between species within the same cluster. Eral took a great deal of interest in this, asking many questions, and Nessinia was happy to answer, believing his interest in her was genuine and stemmed from the love they shared. She even gave him full access to her files containing the data, believing he simply wanted to look and maybe provide insight into something she hadn’t considered.

Unfortunately, Eral was not as trustworthy as Nessinia assumed. After being together for just over two years, Eral suddenly broke up with her and moved away, telling her his clan had formed a breeding contract for him. While Nessinia was somewhat upset by this, she believed this was a reasonable justification and moved on pretty quickly. That was until a year later, when a paper was published in a xenobiological journal she followed underneath the name ‘Mannoval Ormon Huhirn Zol Amik Eral’.  Upon checking the paper, Nessinia discovered that the data and ideas used in the paper were her own.

It didn’t take long for Nessinia to work out Eral must’ve stolen her data, and she was horrified that someone she’d trusted could do this. For a while, she considered filing a plagiarism report, but eventually gave up on this, unsure of the process or if it would even lead to anything. In the end, she blamed herself, believing her emotions had caused her to act foolish by sharing her data with someone so duplicitous. From then on, Nessinia swore to never let anything like this ever happen again and decided to actively distance herself from her emotions. She vowed that every decision she made thenceforth would be based on objective facts only, disregarding her emotions, and she would never open up to someone she wasn’t certain she could trust.

Nessinia continued working on Hyetiana after that, not allowing herself to quit a decent job just because of some trivial emotional problems. Her life was fairly uneventful until 2157 when first contact was made with humanity. As a xenobiologist, Nessinia was ecstatic about being present during first contact with a new species, especially after spending many years studying xenobiology. In hopes of being able to meet these humans, she immediately gathered her savings and moved to the Citadel, renting an apartment on the Presidium. She quickly became fascinated with the species, finding the similarities between human and asari physiology very interesting. While living on the Citadel, she sought out humans at any opportunity she had, undeterred by their brusque responses to her intrusive questions.

When the human colony of Arvuna was founded in 2160, Nessinia felt drawn to it by the planet’s interesting native wildlife and the ability to live and breathe beside humans. Without a second thought, she travelled there, leaving council space behind. Fortunately, the humans of Arvuna were very accommodating, offering to feed and house her in exchange for her help in setting up the colony. Most were glad to have the assistance of a council species, even if they found Nessinia a little peculiar.

While living on the planet, she conducted much research and befriended many humans. In particular, she became close to a human named Adil Zafar, a fellow biologist. The two bonded over research, with Adil often accompanying her on her outings to study the Arvunan lifeforms, making the excuse that he needed to gather up soil samples for the colony. Eventually, it became clear to her that Adil was quite attracted to her. However, Nessinia was still cautious after her experience with Eral. Although she had similar feelings for the human, she refused to acknowledge them, instead burying them deep down until she knew Adil could be trusted. Even so, she remained close to Adil rather than letting him down easily before his feelings developed from a mere crush to love.

After she had been living on the colony for about a year, Adil gathered up the courage to confess. Nessinia bluntly rejected him, still afraid of getting into a relationship. Although she didn’t intend to hurt the human, by then she had spent many years disregarding her own emotions that she forgot to consider how her blunt words would affect his. Unfortunately, Adil was hurt by her rejection and accused her of leading him on. Although Nessinia was deeply upset to have lost someone she genuinely cared about, she continued on as though nothing had happened, insisting she was unaffected by his outburst. However, she soon realised the humans of the colony she’d settled on were behaving a lot colder to her. It didn’t take long for her to figure out that Adil must’ve told them what had happened between the two, and the colonists now thought she was cruel. While Nessinia was secretly upset and ashamed of this, she ignored these feelings and remained on the colony a while longer, continuing her research. However, her place in the colony didn’t get any easier or more comfortable, and in 2163 she left, returning to council space.

For a while she bounced between jobs, until she settled on Noveria in 2174, working for Binary Helix. In 2185, while she was still working on Noveria, Nessinia heard about a group called G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N. in a news bulletin. Their intention to cure the krogan Genophage piqued her interest - Nessinia had always thought that the Genophage was wrong, believing species should be able to carve out their own path in the galaxy. For this reason, she joined G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N. early in its creation, hoping her scientific skills could contribute to the organisation’s effort to cure the genophage.

### With G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N.

After going through Asgard Station for training, where she picked up basic combat abilities and developed her biotics for combat use, Nessinia was assigned to the CSV Avalon. Here she took a direct involvement in the development and deployment of the Genophage cure, being present for the mission on Tuchanka. After curing the Genophage, Nessinia was given leave and after many years of no contact, she reunited with her mother in her childhood home on Illium. The two shared a touching moment and apologised for their past disagreements. Myrina reassured her daughter that she cared about her and, with a warning that war was looming on the horizon, gifted her an Acolyte heavy pistol to protect herself with.

Shortly after this, the Terminus War reared its ugly head. Nessinia remained on the Avalon during the Terminus War, eventually being promoted to XO upon Mazoril’s departure from the organisation, then Captain of the ship when Odette Perali departed the organisation. During the war, Nessinia took part and led various operations, including leading the Protector Squad during the second Skyllian Blitz and retrieving a partial cure for Kepral's Syndrome from W.A.R.D. While many of these operations resulted in success, Nessinia often felt herself succumbing to the pressures of being a leader, her self-doubts in her leadership abilities leading to stress and anxiety. However, she suppressed these feelings, believing they would hinder her ability as a leader and cloud her judgment.

Nessinia was present on the GSV Avalon when the Outsider caused the destruction of every G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N. ship. Fortunately, she managed to escape on a shuttle with several members of her crew, but during her escape she witnessed operative Claire Sharp die in front of her. Shocked by these events, Nessinia returned to Illium and intended to stay with her mother until she knew what to do, only to find that her mother was arrested. After staying in a hotel for a few days, she received a message from Adil, offering her a place to stay with him and his family on Horizon while she recuperated.

Nessinia accepted this offer and, after getting over her initial shock that the fresh-faced twenty-year-old she once knew was now a middle-aged man with a family, stayed with him for just over a week. On the day before she left, she received the message about the reformation of G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N., causing her emotions and memories of the destruction to finally overwhelm her. For the first time in years, she cried, blaming herself for the destruction of the Avalon and the lives lost and questioning whether she should even return to G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N. However, by morning Nessinia she had made up her mind to return, having disregarded the night prior as a moment of weakness.

Once G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N. reformed, Nessinia was assigned to the GSV Arcadia as the XO. However, after only remaining in this position for a few months, she stepped down. Her emotions had finally caught up with her and she was unable to cope with the position any longer, feeling overwhelmed with the size of the ship and the circumstances G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N. faced - not to mention she was growing increasingly uncomfortable with August Emerson’s constant flirting. Although she stepped down from leadership, she remained in G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N., working under Velsa Jazzo in the labs during the Reaper War. She was still onboard the GSV Arcadia during the Assault on the Omega 4 Relay but survived, escaping in an escape pod prior to the ship’s destruction before being rescued by a passing ship.

### Post Reaper War

After the Reaper War had concluded, Nessinia returned to Illium, visiting her mother once again. Myrina was still awaiting trial for the charges against her, the trial having been delayed several years due to the Reaper War. Nessinia agreed to testify for her mother during her trial and the two parted ways. For a while, she didn’t know what to do with herself. This changed in 2188 when she underwent debriefing as a former G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N. operative and started to receive her full severance package and pension. Since Nessinia had held a high rank in G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N., the benefits she received were considerable.

Suddenly she had more money than she knew what to do with. This money was left to pile up in her account for a few months, until one day she was looking over her old drafted papers and her desire to continue her past wildlife studies was rekindled. Now, without being limited by lack of funds, she could conduct this research as much as she desired. To support this endeavour, Nessinia purchased a small vessel second-hand and converted it to a science ship, fitting it with a small crew of mercenaries and freelancers to keep the ship functioning.

Over the next year, Nessinia conducted much research, publishing a paper on her studies and drafting up another. However, she quickly began to feel insignificant. The galaxy was full of unrest - it was apparent whether she was travelling to hard-hit planets or even when residing in her apartment on Illium - and yet she was rushing to study specimens that would still be there in a few decades. It was these thoughts that caused her interest to pique at the news of the formation of the Council Recovery Corps in 2190. The organisation seemed to have honourable goals and leadership, plus its flagship was fitted with sophisticated R&D labs which would allow her to continue her research for a greater purpose. Not to mention, there was an opening for the position of Research & Development Officer, a position she had the necessary experience to fulfil. Hoping her scientific mind and leadership skills would be of use, Nessinia signed up for the CRC, applying for the Research & Development coordinator position. After a brief interview with director Julian Stoker, she was awarded the position and officially moved to the CSV Resurgence to coordinate projects on its R&D deck.

## Personality

Nessinia is a very calm person who always maintains a composed outer appearance. She always tries to remain neutral and rely on facts rather than feelings, believing that emotions are an irresponsible basis for decisions. As a result, she suppresses and ignores her own feelings, presenting herself as a more indifferent person. After doing this for many years, Nessinia finds it difficult to outwardly express strong emotions like stress, pain or love when the situation calls for it, making her come across as cold and distant.

Furthermore, Nessinia greatly struggles to properly deal with difficult emotions when they do arise, refusing to talk about them or seek therapy. This has led to her experiencing emotional breakdowns in the past, becoming overwhelmed by a build-up of suppressed emotions. Unfortunately, rather than learning from this and accepting her emotions, Nessinia regards these breakdowns as further proof that her feelings do nothing but hinder her and continues to ignore them.

Despite her calm and unemotional outward appearance, Nessinia isn't antisocial and generally enjoys being around others. While she is reserved, she is not shy and finds it easy to start conversations. However, her belief that it is reckless to rely on emotions extends beyond herself and she often neglects to consider the feelings of other individuals, particularly when making decisions. She tends to disregard others’ feelings when it comes to many matters, believing they will get in the way and distort judgement, which often makes her come across as cold and unempathetic.

The only time Nessinia’s composed exterior will falter is when she is confronted with something she desires to know more about. Her innate curiosity and fascination with science will overwhelm her desire for neutrality, revealing a more excitable and persistently quizzical side to her character. She can sometimes become overly fixated on topics she is interested in, to the extent where she can forget about everything else. This can lead to her getting very distracted, forgetting how to behave appropriately around people or disregarding matters that she deems less important, no matter what the consequences of this may be.

### Exceptional Skills

* *Xenobiologist -* After spending many years as a scientist, Nessinia is deeply knowledgeable about the field of xenobiology and proper research methods. Over the years, she has had many papers published in esteemed journals and taken part in many research endeavours, studying species from planets across the galaxy.

* *Experienced Leader -* Nessinia has served in several leadership positions in the past and knows how to competently lead. She can give orders confidently and knows how to organise groups. However, she still faces some self-doubt when making important decisions.

* *Tea Sommelier -* Nessinia loves tea and has tried many teas from many cultures. Whenever she travels somewhere new she always packs a portable tea kit and carries a collection of teas to sample at her leisure. She regularly imports different teas from across the galaxy and has accrued quite a collection over the years.
* *Ness' Arc* - Nessinia collects preserved animal specimens from across the galaxy, including taxidermies and skeletons. Over the past few years she has amassed a decent collection of fauna from most species' homeworlds, which she displays proudly in her office on the CSV Resurgence.

## Physical Description

Nessinia is an asari of average height and a petite build - slim, with little muscle mass. While she is not quite skinny enough to look sickly, just a glance at her small figure is enough to indicate that she lacks any significant athletic ability. Her purple skin is adorned by deep purple markings, surrounding her eyes and trailing across her cheeks. Her eyes are a cool icy blue, standing out against the warmer tones of her skin.

Nessinia maintains a composed aura, carrying herself with a calm posture and appearance which she sustains by regular meditation. Besides feelings of curiosity and fascination, which always make themselves known via a bright spark in her eyes, Nessinia never allows her emotions to visibly surface. Consequently, her expression rarely changes from its default neutral. While her neutral expression is too serene to be regarded as a “resting bitch face”, her reluctance to emote gives her a cold, aloof air. Seeing her give anything other than a small polite smile is a rarity. Seeing her cry is an impossibility.

Nessinia’s preferred attire usually consists of dull, darker colours, devoid of any embellishments or elaborate designs. She will dress for practicality first and foremost, ignoring the latest popular fashions and opting for more functional clothes that can adapt to many situations, often made of breathable material and fitted with many pockets. One garment she greatly favours is her lab coat, which she frequently wears even when she isn’t doing scientific work.

### Armament

* M-23 Katana
* M-3 Predator

### Abilities

* Barrier
* Warp
* Throw
* Stasis