Cerberus

**Cerberus** is a human-survivalist paramilitary group led by the enigmatic Illusive Man. Cerberus' core belief is that humans deserve a greater role in the galactic community, and that the Systems Alliance is too hamstrung by law and public opinion to stand up effectively to the other Citadel Council and the races that support it. Cerberus supports the principle that any methods of advancing humanity's ascension are entirely justified, including illegal or dangerous experimentation, terrorist activities, sabotage and assassination. Cerberus operatives accept that these methods are brutal, but believe history will vindicate them. Nevertheless, both the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council have declared Cerberus to be a terrorist organization and will prosecute identified Cerberus agents accordingly.

## History

### Early Beginnings

Cerberus arose from the tumult of the First Contact War in 2157 CE, a conflict between humanity and the first alien race they had encountered after achieving spaceflight, the turians. During the turian occupation of Shanxi, a trio of human mercenaries, Jack Harper, Eva Coré, and Ben Hislop, served with the Systems Alliance forces led by General Williams who were resisting the turians. After capturing a turian general, the mercenaries became embroiled in the general's conspiracy to use an ancient alien artifact to transform the turians into a race of invincible super soldiers under his command. With the aid of the general's brother, Saren Arterius, Harper was able to foil the plot, but both Coré and Hislop were lost.

In the aftermath, Harper realized that although the galaxy was abundant with knowledge and wealth, it was also a dangerous place, and a dark time was coming for humanity. It was humanity's duty to meet this challenge, and Harper resolved to do everything in his power to better humanity and ensure their place among the stars. With that, Harper published the manifesto of Cerberus and assumed the identity of the Illusive Man.

### Expansion

As Cerberus grew off the backs of wealthy donors and like-minded individuals, it had an indelible effect on the course of human development through acts of sabotage, assassination, media manipulation, and espionage. Cerberus became known to the public after a failed attempt to steal antimatter from the cruiser SSV Geneva in 2165. The sole surviving member of the operation named his sponsor "Cerberus", and the publicity from the incident spurred an increase in recruitment. In 2170, Cerberus engineered the Eldfell-Ashland Energy accident over Yandoa, exposing the colonists to dust-form element zero, and two other similar accidents over the preceding four months in two other colonies.

The following year, Pope Clement XVI was assassinated via rosary beads coated with toxic materials in order to be replaced by Leo XIV, who has eschatological beliefs more in line with Cerberus' goal of militarizing humanity. Claude Menneau, a candidate for the leadership of the pro-human Terra Firma party, was also assassinated in 2173 at the order of the Illusive Man to allow Charles Saracino to gain the position. Cerberus was additionally responsible for funding Michael Moser Lang, who would go on to gun down United North American States president Enrique Aguilar and Chinese People's Federation premier Ying Xiong in 2176, and sabotaging the starship MSV Anixara in 2182, resulting in the death of Turian Hierarchy war hawk Raherix Ursivus.