Vito Shepard Pix

"'I was hoping someone would propose a Salarian since we haven't had a Salarian PC yet! Very SMART CHOICE!!!! I love how you incorporated his character into a sidequest in the Mass Effect game! Again, very clever! But the most creative and enticing aspect by far is his Indiana Jones backstory (complete with a whip)! Genius!'"

Audition
Kiwi's Audition

Kiwi's Interview

Personality description
Vito is a curious and logical minded Salarian. Yet, there's a very sensitive side to his brain that used to confuse him.

He loves dearly, and gets attached to material concepts. Love, fear and guilt are emotions that linger longer for him than it does for a "normal" Salarian.

He feels living up to the name of Shepard is one of the most important thing he could be doing. His need to right his wrongs, to be a hero, stems from something much older...

 SPOILERS BELOW 

Dear Pix clan,

Here is a copy of my examinations as per request from Mr. Solaryk Pix.

With the hope it helps,

Dr. Damus

 

[1 Attachement]: Psychological report of Surkesh Isoln Sagal Syl Deran Vito Shepard.doc

___

Subject: Surkesh Isoln Sagal Syl Deran Vito Shepard, Salarian, 10 years old

Diagnosis: Stuporous Catatonia, Claustrophobic Paranoia, Night terrors, Severe Insomnia, fits of delirium

'' It is one of the worst Salarian cases I’ve had. Half of those disorders had never happened to one before, not even to those who saw their colony destroyed by Reapers. Thus, I doubt Mr. Deran’s diagnosis is a result of the events that took place on Tuchanka. The claustrophobic paranoia my patient experienced can of course be explained by the 8 days he spent crushed underground, surrounded by the bodies of his colleagues.''

'' According to eyewitnesses, he spent the best part of it unmoving and unresponsive. It took a week after rescue to get him to respond to stimuli. It lasted for a very short window of time, before outside contact had him to revert to the prior catatonic state he experienced for more than a month. Thankfully this state eventually subsided and my patient was able to communicate and interact with people around him again.''
 * Mr. Deran doesn’t sleep for multiple days before crashing for two to three hours afterwards, only to wake up multiple times from night terrors. I have added Nightmares and Severe Insomnia to my diagnosis.

 ''I believe a neurotypical Salarian would have been back on their feet by the time Mr. Deran got out of the hospital for his physical injuries.
 * Under a certain amount of stress caused by day to day life, Mr. Deran will experience severe anxious meltdowns and paranoia, as well as possibly reverting back to an unresponsive state. It would be best to keep my patient off the field for an indefinite amount of time.

'' I tried asking him to elaborate on what he believes he should have done on Tuchanka, but it triggered another anxiety attack, followed by a bout of catatonia. The subject should be avoided until the patient brings it up himself.''

'' He speaks of how he feels like he cannot use the name of ‘Shepard’, his given name, until he has shown to himself, and to the world that he is ‘worthy’, which further proves my theory; Mr. Deran’s delirium stems from something much older. The cave in may have triggered the symptoms, but the disorders were already there.''

'' Ideally, Mr. Deran should be free to rejoin his life partner and live peacefully. I would recommend that he stay on Palaven for the next two years at the very least, so that myself and the Pix clan watch over him. If there is any out of the ordinary behavior, they are advised to come see me as soon as possible.''

Physical description
Vito is a 7'2 Salarian with light grey skin, and vibrant, glow-in-the-dark orange freckles. He inherited the trait from his mother. His eyes are also a very deep shade of orange.

Almost as tall as he is thin, Vito has long, dexterous webbed fingers. The tips of them have sticky pads, much like earth tree frogs. His skin is as soft and slick as one, too.

One thing people notice first when looking at him is that he holds himself upright by putting more weight on one leg. Seeing him walk, one would realize he limps, due to a past injury, its corrective surgery scars still littering his knee, all the way down his ankle.

Fashion-wise, Vito has no taste, much to Dia's anger. He wears the Salarian equivalent of sweater vests, complete with earth leather belt and pouches. He also occasionally dons a fedora hat, fairly close in appearance to Indiana Jones'.

 SPOILERS BELOW 

As of Session 2, Vito also has Varren bite mark shaped scars along his shoulder.

Backstory
Vito was born in September of 2187, just as the Reaper war came to an end. As the first born, he was named Shepard after the man who saved his hatchery. The tadpole realized early his clan had high expectations for him.

When he came of age, he was pressured to study to become a Geneticist, something less than interesting for Vito. In a surprising turn of event, he refused, and spent 3 years going from university to university, planet to planet, program to program. Weird ones he never finished, things that genuinely interested him, but where he wasn't comfortable, etc.

Eventually he came back to Surkesh, and after another failed course, switched his major for History and Archaeology, definitively. He fell in love with the program, and in that year, met an art student he surprisingly fell in love with, and more importantly, discovered the Indiana Jones movies with.

After getting his certification, he joined his teacher, Jelon Lural, for his first dig in an old Tuchanka temple. Following his call for adventure and his gut, rather than his brain, Vito explored, alone, a secret passage he discovered. Finding a golden urn, he removed it from it's pedestal, triggering a trap, which was so old, it made the entire temple crumble on top of the dig team.

Vito and the 5 survivors spent 8 days down in the darkness of the temple ruins, starving, hurting.

Recovery was long, but Vito's lover, Solaryk, was by his side. Eventually, they married under the warm sun of Palaven, finishing their ceremony with an outdoors theater behind the Pixes' ranch home. As of the start of the campaign, they were married for 3 years, and ready to have their first child.

Class/Powers
Vito is an infiltrator, used to cloak in the darkness to strike down fast and sneakily. As a Saboteur, Vito can redirect damage meant to him towards enemies, and make them fail their defensive tactics against his and his companions' attacks.

On top of that, as a Salarian used to walking in dangerous environments, he is light footed, and thus, does not trigger traps. He can also notice them early thanks to his Saboteur eye for detail. He also remembers everything he saw and read with his Salarian photographic memory.

In case of water troubles, he is also amphibious.

Campaign Spoilers
 SPOILERS BELOW (obviously) 

In Session 3, Vito's in-laws die when the Trebia System's sun blows up. He refuses to let Solaryk out of his sight for the next months, fearing he may just vanish too.

In Session 5-6, the crew discovers Krogan scientists were working on the creation of a reverse Genophage, causing Salarian tadpoles to die within hours of life due to highly accelerated metabolism. It's discovered the virus was in food the group had eaten earlier. With GMIC's help, Vito discovers he's infected, but immune. The reason? His DNA is not 100% Salarian. His genes were spliced with human tissue. After a call to his mother, he discovers most of his childhood was spent as the subject of an elaborate experiment: Genetic splicing to make the Salarian life longer.

Vito dislikes his involvement in the experiment, and especially the fact that he discovers, like that, that he will possibly live 50 more years than any other Salarian out there. It scares him.

On another hand, he could see his children grow, go to college, get married or have children of their own.

In Session 7, Vito meets Stan, and as months pass, he grows more and more like a father to the rebellious Collector, reading to him and teaching him some manners. In Session 19, Vito "stealth adopts" him, allowing Stan to stay at the Pixes' home any time he wants.

Player information
Kiwi is a French Canadian history nerd with a love for cats, frogs, tabletop, and aliens. Nearly all of it was met in the character of Vito.

Kiwi is especially proud of saying that thanks to Hark, and the MES2 campaign, he became much more extroverted, and ready to do things he never even imagined doing before.

Thank you so much for your love and support!

Fun Facts

 * The inspiration behind Vito is mostly watching the Indiana Jones movies too often, and imagining what that first born Salarian named after Shepard (from the ME3 side quest) would look like in the future.
 * Kiwi had no idea about the DNA twist. Until it's discovered, he only subconsciously played Vito more human.
 * Vito's coloring and patterns was inspired by the Polka-dot tree frog.
 * Vito can't dance, or drive, much like someone in particular...
 * Vito has received about 15 breeding contract in his life, but refused them all, especially after getting married.