Liara T'Soni

Liara is one of Shepard and Garrus' oldest friends, having served with them on the *Normandy* SR-1 during the hunt for Saren Arterius. The asari biotic is dependable, clever, and occasionally ruthless. Though she can be naïve or awkward in some regards, the same intelligent mind that picked up the subtle clues of a cycle of destruction long before the crew met the VI Vigil has now turned her focus toward galaxy-wide stability and healing- and Shepard and her strange new gifts are likely central to the continuing fate of the Reaper War survivors.

### Early Life

Liara was the only child of the asari Matriarch Benezia. Her father, Matriarch Aethyta, once warned Benezia away from trying to control Liara too tightly, telling her "You're treating her like a baby bird Nezzy, but she's gonna raise one hell of a storm with those little wings." Liara was an adult before she discovered the origin of her mother's "Little Wing" pet name for her.

Liara was raised alone by Benezia, though the knowledge that her father was another asari was burdensome to both mother and child given the asari culture's disapproval of such unions. Benezia's position in Galactic Affairs pushed Liara to pursue her interest in the Protheans via archeology. Benezia told her that it was only natural for children to rebel against their parents, but allowed her to follow her own path.

Liara was often completely alone on her digs- a fact that she relished due to her unpolished social skills.

## Mass Effect

### Mass Effect

Following the discovery of Benezia's involvement with Saren, Shepard took the *Normandy* to try to track Liara down as a link to her mother. Liara had been estranged from her mother for sometime, and was unaware of what her mother was up to. As a result, she was surprised by Saren's geth while she was working on a Prothean dig site on the planet Therum. She was able to escape from them into the catacombs beneath the dig, and activate a barrier curtan to protect herself. Unfortunately, she also accidently trapped herself in midair and was unable to escape. When Shepard discovered Liara, the commander was able to use a mining laser to get past the barrier curtain. Afterward, the group was able to fight their way out of the destabilized ruin to safety.

Shepard allowed Liara to join their crew, and the young doctor provided her expertise on the Protheans. Liara herself was quickly fascinated with the Commander, partially due to her experience with the beacon found on Eden Prime and partially due to Shepard's own powerful charisma. Shepard did not reciprocate her romantic feelings, but nevertheless they developed a close friendship.

When Shepard tracked her mother to Peak 15 on Noveria, Liara came along with Garrus to discover what was happening there. The three of them confronted Benezia and discovered that her mother had been brainwashed by a signal produced by Saren's flagship Sovereign- a process she called indoctrination. Benezia had managed to seal away part of her mind for a brief moment where she could assist in defeating Saren. The asari matriarch passed along the information she had pulled from the rachni queen's mind- the location of the Mu Relay. Her will expended, Benezia told Liara that "You've always made me proud" before she attacked the squad, forcing them to fatally wound her. As she lay dying, she told her daughter "Good night Little Wing. I will see you again with the dawn."

Liara assisted Shepard in sorting out the information she had been forcefully given by the beacon on Eden Prime via joining their minds together. Liara eventually realized due to her familiarity with the Protheans that the Conduit Saren was seeking was on the planet Ilos.

### Post Mass Effect

After the Battle for the Citadel, the non-Alliance crew dispersed while the *Normandy* was reassigned to look for geth, and in theory, for more proof regarding the Reapers. On September 12th, 2183 the *Normandy* was attacked by an unknown vessel, killing at least 21 crewmembers including Navigator Charles Pressly and Staff Commander Shepard- though the latter was officially declared MIA.

Liara was devastated, and began the process of attempting to find her former Commander. Eventually, she discovered though her contact Feron that Shepard's body had been recovered and placed in a stasis pod. She redoubled her resolve to see Shepard for herself, and discovered that she wasn't the only one after Shepard's body- the Broker wanted it to give to the Collectors, and the human-centric group Cerberus wanted it also. Liara was interested in their claim that they might be able to resurrect Shepard. Eventually, Liara is able to steal Shepard's body from the Blue Suns Mercenary group, though she was forced to leave Feron behind. After delivering Shepard's body to Cerberus in hopes that they would be able to return the Commander to life, Liara vowed to hunt the Shadow Broker in retribution for Feron's death.

Liara turned her mind toward Information Brokering, primarily as an effort to find the Shadow Broker herself. While she became extremely respected in this role, her academic reputation suffered- with her beliefs regarding the Reapers bordering on obsession.

### Mass Effect 2

In 2185, Shepard returned from the dead and had reluctantly agreed to assist the human-supremist group Cerberus in stopping the Collectors from abducing human colonies. When she arrived on Illium to recruit the Justicar Samara and master Assassin Thane Krios, Liara was expecting her. When the new *Normandy* SR-2 docked, Liara paid their fees and requested Shepard come see her.

Shepard discovered Liara's personality had changed significantly in the two years she had been dead- Liara was far more ruthless than she was before, and extremely cautious, telling Shepard that she was unable to speak openly due to the likelihood that their conversations would be recorded. Liara was able to give Shepard some intel on her two dossier targets before requesting her help with tracking down one of the Shadow Broker's agents. Shepard agreed and the two of them quickly discovered none of their suspects matched the agent's description, leading to Liara realizing the Broker had planted the agent closer to her than she realized- her assistant Nyxeris.

#### Lair of the Shadow Broker

Cerberus came across some intel regarding purchases by the Shadow Broker that could possibly be used to pinpoint their location. As a "gesture of good will", Cerberus requested that Shepard pass the information along to Liara. The young asari was both extremely excited and agitated by the intel due to the fact that it also contained proof that Feron was still alive. Liara requested that Shepard meet her at her apartment.

When Shepard arrived at Liara's apartment however, she found herself walking into a crime scene. Twenty-five minutes before Shepard had arrived, someone had attempted to assassinate Liara by shooting at her though the window. Spectre Tela Vasir shut down the local detectives' investigation before requesting Shepard's help in finding Liara and the person who tried to kill her. Shepard agrees and the two of them shortly discover the clues Liara had left for her former commander to find.

Shepard and Vasir split up after arriving at the location of Liara's contact. Shepard fought her way to the top of the building, only to discover that Vasir was the one who tried to kill Liara and had killed her contact and stolen the intel under orders from the Broker. Shepard and Liara chased Vasir through the crowded corridors of Nos Astra, eventually pinning her down. After killing Vasir and retrieving the intel, Shepard and Liara rushed to the Broker's hidden ship, riding the violent storm edge on the planet Hagalaz.

After landing on the ship's hull, the small team fought their way to an entrance and hacked their way in, all the while fighting waves and waves of the Broker's private army. Once inside, they confirmed that Feron was still alive- hooked up to machines that both tortured him as well as keeping him from dying. Unable to free Feron without killing him while the ship was powered, Liara and Shepard turned their attention to taking down the Shadow Broker.

The Shadow Broker turned out to be a yahg- an extremely violent pre-spaceflight species discovered by Council species in 2125. Their first contact had gone extremely poorly, with the yahg massacring the entire Citadel Diplomatic delegation. The result was that the Council forbade any further contact with the planet. Liara immediately realized the Broker's ship predated the discovery of the yahg and concluded that the original Broker must have been killed by this one, having been illegally lifted from his homeworld as a slave, or perhaps a pet.

This observation sent the Broker into a rage, forcing Liara and Shepard into a violent hand to hand combat- ending when Liara used her biotics to shatter the ceiling, causing the yahg's shield to short out. The Broker died in the subsequent explosion. As the ship powered back on, Liara took control of the network, making her the new Shadow Broker.

### Post Mass Effect 2

After the destruction of the Alpha Relay, Liara followed the previous Broker's intel; unlike much of the rest of the galaxy, the Broker knew the Reapers were real and was looking for a way to survive their invasion. Much of his interest had focused on the prothean archives. Following that lead, Liara first visited the Archives on Thessia, but found very little. Her next stop was on Kahje, where she found herself attacked by a Cerberus Phantom. After killing it, Liara was addressed by a hologram of the Illusive Man who claimed the attack was due to a rogue faction within Cerberus and suggested they work together. Liara was suspicious and insisted that he show his intel first, but the Illusive Man refused- threatening her by saying the forces around her sensed the Broker going soft. Liara walked away from the confrontation and contacted Admiral Hackett shortly thereafter, who pointed her in the direction of the Mars Archives.

Before she made it to Mars, Liara, Feron, and a reprogramed VI drone she named 'Glyph', were attacked by Cerberus forces at the Shadow Broker Base. Liara ended up crashing the ship to keep it from falling into Cerberus hands.

### Mass Effect 3

Through "process of elimination mixed with a little desperation" Liara discovered blueprints for something called the Crucible- a weapon theoretically able to defeat the Reapers, however the Reaper invasion stuck Earth, and a Cerberus infiltration mech going under the name Dr. Eva Core alerted to her discovery called in a strike team to secure the blueprints and destroy all traces of it. Liara was able to kill her attackers and was reunited with Shepard along with Kaidan Alenko, due to Admiral Hackett detouring the escaping *Normandy* to Mars. With their help, Liara was able to recover part of the blueprints, though Kaidan was badly injured in the confrontation with Eva Core.

Liara assisted Shepard in presenting the Crucible Blueprints to the Citadel Council but was disappointed in their response. Afterwards, Liara moved her Shadow Broker operation into the previous XO office, utilizing the equipment she had salvaged from her scuttled base and turned her considerable focus, network, and resources toward the war effort.

## Every One That Asketh

### Act I

Liara was on board the *Normandy* when the blast from the Crucible struck them, causing them to crash on a previously uncharted world the crew would name 1002315 Williams, after Ashely Wiliams from the original *Normandy's* squad. She, along with the rest of the crew, assisted in getting the ship spaceworthy again. When they limped their way back to the Exodus cluster and the adjoining Mass Relay, they discovered the relay was dark. Liara then assisted Tali in creating a laboratory space for the quarian engineer to try to work on the problem of the inoperable relay. On May 9th, two days after reaching the Exodus Relay, Tali had a burst of inspiration and asked Liara if she happened to have the signal the humans used to activate the Charon Relay. Much to Liara's shock, she did have it- it had been received "only about half a second between the data burst and the shutdown." Much to everyone's relief, the signal Tali backwards engineered from Liara's data worked and the relay started back up.