Author: KA Byrnes

PEGGY SCOTT, SEVEN

As Agnes surmises and appreciates, Peggy is a very determined person. She leaves her well-off family in Brooklyn, with whom she has a secret grievance, and takes a secretarial position with Agnes. She intends to write fiction, and she lands a second job at a Black-owned newspaper as a journalist.

Peggy knows her own mind, she knows what she wants, and she will pursue it. Meanwhile, she’s kind to people who are kind to her, and she stands as a solid friend to Marian. She’s no Mary Sue, though. This is a real character.

Her curiosity makes her a good journalist. She asks about what interests her, and ends up with an article that appeals to many. She has an energy and an industry, always engaging with the world. And she has an implacable temper. Her father has wronged her and she won’t forgive him.

Peggy is open to life and adventure, yet she has a cool head and won’t act impetuously. She has a steadiness that compliments her joie de vivre. I’m going to say Seven.

Horizon

It’s funny how much gameplay is needed before the story continues. Shepard must assemble the first round of the team. Garrus is back, and many new teammates join.

Eventually, though, the Illusive Man calls with a planet that seems sure to attract the Collectors. Our alive crewmember from ME1 (Kaidan or Ashley) is on Horizon for an Alliance mission. Before we arrive the Collectors descend, their bug swarm immobilizing the colonists. They’re in the process of loading the frozen into their ship when we land and battle them.

On their ship is a leader who directly communicates with an unseen Reaper called Harbinger. 

“We are the harbinger of their perfection. Prepare these humans for ascension.”
Continue reading “Horizon”

ADA BROOK, NINE

A spinster, Ada lives on the charity of her sister, Agnes. She is endlessly kind, and Agnes protects her. Her simplicity is refreshing because she has no guile. She genuinely doesn’t conceive of being mean. Her family, her household, and her little dog, are enough to bring her joy.

She’s not a simpleton, though. She has a quiet savvy that lets her see that the cook needs help and that Marian is over her head in a romantic entanglement. Acting from gentility, she lets people follow their own will, though, rather than imposing her own. She’s a lovely, admirable character, but she could never survive in this world without Agnes’ intervention.

What a beautiful dynamic! What a fascinating sisterhood.

I want to say Two because of her deep heart connection to those she loves. She’s not particularly social, though. She participates in charity events and enjoys her family, but she doesn’t seek out a whirl. It’s quite possible she would be content to never leave the house.

Also, if Agnes is a Six, a Two is a rare designation for a sibling. Ah! Ada is a Nine. A Nine woman is a gentle, nurturing person. Her concern with justice — refer to the cook situation again — is the indicator. And a Six/Nine combination is a great symbiosis. Oh, The Gilded Age gets better on examination, and I already loved it.

The Lazarus Project

Mass Effect 2 begins as cinematically as the last one ended. The Normandy is attacked by an unknown vessel. Escape pods jettison, but Joker won’t leave the cockpit even as the ship burns and tears apart. We know from talking to him in ME1 that he suffers from bone brittle disease. It’s up to Shepard, walking through a hull open to space, to find him and carry him to the last pod. Normandy explodes, though. Shepard manages to eject Joker safely before she’s blown free, life support failing.

And then Shepard is in a medical bay. Someone has brought her back from near death and rebuilt her. It is Cerberus.

We meet the Illusive Man, the leader of Cerberus and the one responsible for ordering Shepard’s rescue. His second, Miranda, oversaw the two years of reconstruction necessary to save us. (Both of these characters are voiced by stellar actors who look like themselves thanks to a great animation team. It’s a really fun start to the game.)

Meanwhile, human colonies have been disappearing. Slavers are blamed by the government, which is too busy with diplomacy among the nations to look into this oddity. Only Cerberus pursues answers, and only Cerberus remembers the Reapers and wants to counteract whatever they have planned next. This is the arc of ME2.

Continue reading “The Lazarus Project”

BERTHA RUSSELL, THREE

On the New Money side of the street we have a woman so socially ambitious it’s a wonderment to watch her. Bertha runs her advancement into the hierarchy of New York City’s rich as if it were a business. I’ve never seen a female character written so forcefully and yet respectfully. Usually a woman this brash is the villain.

Does she like nice things? I don’t think so. She likes status. But then she hires an innovative architect and a French chef (something not done at that time). Boldness is her profession, and she has an instinct for it. She has a tactical understanding of style, while choosing something for its beauty is secondary.

Three. Envy eats her alive, yet it won’t stop her. She will achieve what she attempts. This is a mesmerizing person who refuses to lose. I couldn’t stop admiring her.

The Story Enneagram of Mass Effect 1

In 2007 Bioware swung for the fences: our Shepard avatar vs. the villainous Saren, organic life vs. machines, upstart humans vs. an unfathomably old cycle of destruction. These are the themes of the first Mass Effect game.

ONE

Humans are only one sentient species among many. We’re actually a fresh addition to the activity of the galaxy. We’re ambitious, though. Shepard, one of the best humanity has to offer in terms of fighting ability and determination, has a chance to become the first human Spectre, a special forces rank. On a routine mission to show what she can do, Shepard faces an unknown problem.

TWO

The Turian Spectre set to judge Shepard is surprised by another Spectre, Saren, who shoots him in the back. It’s a stark moment. The Geth are a shocking enemy, something humanity has never seen and other races haven’t seen in centuries. They’re minions, though, and Saren is their leader. His presence here is obviously the Trouble that’s resolved at the endgame battle. The Reapers are the overarching villain, but in this story the specific antagonist is Saren.

THREE

This really isn’t a story about humanity fitting into an established galaxy. This is war with the unknown — with history, actually. Shepard interacts with a Prothean Beacon, an artifact, that implants a confusing vision in her consciousness. What does it mean? Why is the rogue Spectre after the same information? Can humanity have a place in how the galaxy answers these questions? 

Continue reading “The Story Enneagram of Mass Effect 1”