Renala T'Iavay
| Renala T'Iavay | |
|---|---|
| Alias | None |
| Species | Asari |
| Age | 364 |
| Birthdate | December 3, 1821 |
| Birthplace | Serrice, Thessia |
| Current Residence | Freedom Falls, Aite |
| Height | 166cm (5'6") |
| Build | Skinny |
| Markings | None |
| Eye Color | Blue |
| Skin Color | Sky-blue |
| Occupation | Redrock Agency Sysadmin |
| Relationships | Aeyna T'Rea (Daughter) Steve Briggs (Close Friend) |
| Status | Active |
| Player | Gisle |
| "All I want is for this crap to be done so that I can start fixing things." |
| —Renala T'Iavay |
Renala is an asari matron working at Redrock Agency.
Contents
Appearance
Renala is a matron and looks the part: her crests have a rough but symmetrical texture, which does extend beyond their roots and down to the edges of her cheekbones. Her skin has a sky blue color, and she has no facial markings. Furthermore, she is not an exceptionally tall asari, standing only at 166cm / 5'5". Renala is still fairly rusty from the calmer start to her matron years, and she is quite skinny and diminutive.
History
Early Life
Renala was born and grew up in a small town two hours' sky car drive from Serrice on Thessia to two asari parents. The common disdain for 'purebloods' like herself was prevalent in her early education, and she ended up with very few close friends. While it made her opt out of social events early on, she grew out of it as others grew out of their childish expressions of prejudice.
The early reclusion made her take an interest in technology, and more than one appliance at home met its end at her hands. It was only when she received her first omni-tool that this destructive streak ended – mostly.
To her parent's dismay, the calm Thessia's life bored her as she got of age. At sixty years plus one day, she was out of asari space and en route to Omega. She was aware and pessimistic about the dangers, making her watch her step and cover her tracks early. She alternated working simple jobs and making use of her technical skills.
Settling Down
Eventually, the matron days were around the corner and the compulsion to settle down had begun to set in. Renala dusted off her ancient university degree and took a few more years of study to refresh it and add to it with money saved up during the later maiden years. That's where she met Nalena, who was at the time working as a recruiter for the Armalian tech company T'Rea Software Solutions.
Raising a child was very trying on their relationship. They had a very different perspective on raising a child. While Renala wanted to steel her against the hardships of growing up as a pureblood – even teaching her the basics of biotics at a very young age –, Nalena wanted her to be careful. An episode of lashing out against a classmate marked an upheaval in their relationship and Nalena wanted Renala out of the child's influence. It was an emotional overreaction that Renala failed to calm down. A divorce was bound to happen, and it did.
Renala's life in Armali fell apart after that. Calling it a mid-life crisis would be an understatement. The only constant is Aeyna, whom she still talks with on a regular basis.
A New Beginning
She quit her job and wanted to just get away for a while before she would give the matron's life another consideration. Not being a maiden anymore, she decided to stick to a middle ground. Settling down somewhere, while also looking for something to do with her life for the time being. First stop, Aite.
She rented a room at Miner's Respite once she arrived in the small spaceport town Freedom Falls. She thought it would be temporary, a small stop on her way to finding a new purpose, but it would turn out to be anything but. In the early days, she was hanging around the bar, meeting new people, and making friends. Out of these, she mostly remembers Galatea, Steve Briggs, Iressa T'Selvos and Fera'Sel, though all but Steve have slowly but surely drifted away from her over the year.
Salvage Job
There was one problem, though, Renala was running out of credits and had no real plans for the future. It's not often a matron could end up in such a situation, but it wouldn't be far off to liken it to a midlife crisis. Nonetheless, the problem was there and she had to find a solution to it. She went along with her recent acquaintances to visit Hnipinn Minerals to look for a job. The receptionist referred Renala to another company that is managing their digital infrastructure, but she also let them know about a salvage mission that she needed a crew on. A mining team has gone missing in the mountains, and having some guns on their side could prove useful given they do now know the circumstances of their disappearance.
Renala, Steve and Fera'Sel signed up for the salvage mission, and met up the next day. It was a bad job with little information, and it could be a number of things that caused the mining crew to lose contact. Renala did not have much luck procuring equipment, and aside from a pistol holster, she looked just like when she was looking for work the day prior. They didn't end up bringing back much, and their pay was set very low accordingly.
Hunting Time
See: Hunting Time
The next job they took was a hunting job to recover a specimen for the ExoGeni Corporation. They had a biologist on board and a strong team, but the target was for the most part unknown. It was dangerous, most likely. The mission was hectic, and Steve sustained an injury, but it seemed like their luck was turning for the better when they managed to knock the creature unconscious.
That was until they were ambushed by slavers that sedated the group. They awoke later in a cell deep underground, restrained with biotic-suppressing collars. All their equipment, and even clothes, were taken from them and they were under constant guard. They managed to break out of the cell, but they were at a severe disadvantage.
Renala managed to help out with the fighting before she was shot, including saving Darsk from an Ardat-Yakshi who was about to break his mind with a well-aimed baton strike. They rescued some other prisoners, but they ran ahead and got themselves killed without helping all that much with the escape as a whole.
They managed to find Renala's omni-tool, medi-gel and some of the bandits' equipment was usable enough. That turned the tide somewhat, but they still did not know the way out or how many of them were between them and it. The asari that had fought Darsk was still alive, but Renala insisted they rectify that as a living Ardat-Yakshi is no joke.
They did get out before finding their gear, but Steve could not leave without his equipment. Renala could not leave without him, so she gave Iressa a name to contact in case she did not return and together they went back inside to teach these bandits a lesson and hopefully get their things back.
They did not take out the bandits, but they were able to make off with their equipment and hail the shuttle from the top of the cliff. They could not find Maria, however, but they were in no shape to go back for her.
Steve: Suspicions
As mentioned before, Steve was one of the people she met early on in her time on Aite, but it wasn't until around Christmas of 2184 that she started to get an insight into the ghosts of his past: Eclipse. He had contacted her a few days before and asked her to return to Aite as fast as she could, and when she got back, he had been cooped up in his room at the Miner's Respite for days.
He caught her off-guard by asking questions about the people she's seen on her way in and someone stepping out of a shuttle outside. Even Va'ynna was suspected as a collaborator. Renala wasn't buying it as he was acting very uncharacteristic, and she planted enough doubt in him that he began explaining himself; the day after she left, he stopped taking his medicine and that had made him increasingly paranoid.
He resumed taking the pills after that, but even as he came to his senses, he was sure that if Eclipse were to find out where he was, they'll come for him.
Redrock Agency
They needed a better plan if they were going to continue doing this, as their two jobs so far have been absolute shitshows. Steve told her about Redrock Agency just before she was leaving to go see her daughter on Thessia. He said that it was a freelance agency that had just set up in town and that he was going to apply there first; due to a personal medical experiment, he didn't get to that in time.
She showed up early in 2185 along with Steve, a very grumpy turian and Kim to conduct a group interview where Jason and the senior — relatively speaking — employees. The interview went well for her, especially with Steve putting in the good word. She did eventually get the offer.
She was looking forward to easy security work looking after businesses and places like the spaceport, but the first job was an assault on a band of smugglers. Despite the unknowns and some injuries, the job went well. She also was there for the altercation at the Miner's Respite that followed it, but at least there she came out unscathed.
Steve: Cross and Adrasteia
He eventually needed a refill of the pills and offered Renala to come along with a trip to Adrasteia in order to get them. It was a stark contrast to Freedom Falls, an actual big city that had it all. The ubiquitous armed guards were the only reminder that they were still on this side of the galaxy, however.
The trip was going well, Bryan Cross even offering them both well-paid jobs there until some terrorists showed up at the Torthus-Cross building as they were about to leave. Renala was forced to act swiftly, and she took the side of the people she was in a conflict she previously had no stakes in. She tried to talk down one of the attackers that had gotten inside while protecting the others with a barrier, but that was to no avail.
When the smoke cleared, she returned immediately along with Steve. She had gotten a very ugly first impression of the Children of Aite, which would color her interactions with one of theirs she met in the Miner's Respite months later.
This has left her in an uncomfortable situation with regards to Cross' interest in Freedom Falls, however, and she suggested that she and Steve recuse themselves from any potential conflict that Redrock would end up getting involved in.
Ogofau
See: Investigating Ogofau
The next big mission was not a gentle step up, but the job itself was not her biggest concern at first. That was the new hires Redrock Agency had picked up: Maria likely still held a grudge against her, and Alex and Vaden seemed very inexperienced and immature. However, Steve was also on their team, and he was someone she could trust to watch her back. She tried instructing Alex how to use her programs after adapting them to run on her omni-tool.
They arrived at the mine and found out quickly that this was not a simple case of comms failure or pirate attack, and it went out of control fast. Renala and Steve had to go back after Jasper lost the shuttle, then the creatures attacked. One of them tore Renala's helmet off, and she would have been done for if not for Steve's getting it off her. To this day, she is still unnerved by dark doorways because of this.
The mission continued like this, with more horrors awaiting them and the situation only getting worse. They lost some people while they searched for survivors, and would have lost Vaden too if Renala's suggestion of leaving as soon as they were able was heeded. She admitted as much to the salarian afterward, though, which caused some tension between them.
Renala went home to Thessia a short time after the job was over, which Jason was none too happy about when he saw her at the Miner's Respite a few months later. She wasn't as involved in the day-to-day maintenance of Redrock Agency's security system back then.
Steve: Emergency Car Theft
Many months after the incident in the Respite Room -- long enough that she would have thought the Eclipse had given up on him --, she gets a call early in the morning to get him an urgent lift out of town. She was just back from her shift at the mine for the night and could not get ahold of a taxi, and she thought it was best to leave Redrock out of it. That left one option, a sky car that was sitting out in the open within visual distance.
When she got to him, it became clear what had happened. Some Eclipse mercenaries were in town and tracking him, and so he needed to get rid of their bodies after dispatching them in an alley. Renala realized the urgency of the situation and took them out into the woods where they left the bodies and the car behind.
She told Steve whose car it was, as she had only realized it far too late. It was Uvena's, and her failure to return the rental car to the dealership landed the asari in a lot of trouble. She thought she would be able to get away with it and help out in retrieving it, but Va'ynna had shared her suspicions with Jason after seeing her return to the Respite on the day of the theft.
Renala did not lie to Jason when he went to confront her and promised to help get the car back. That was easier said than done, however, as someone else had gotten to the location before she did. They managed to incapacitate her and were about to take her away when Redrock arrived on the scene and successfully fought them off.
The car situation resolved itself and has been dormant ever since, but Renala braces herself for the day when Uvena learns of it.
The Barn
See: Raiding the Barn
Renala first heard about the mission from Jason at the Respite, and he was reluctant to tell him. He knows hows she felt about the more heroic, unprofitable ventures that Redrock has undertaken, and this was to be another one of them. Two things differed, however, one being that there was a client in the picture here. The other was that it was Vasquez' last known position. Renala remembered the fight at the base when Rellis' people attacked, and she was keen on returning the favor.
Renala was one of the first to show on the day of departure, without armor as instructed. The human Jason was speaking to, [Viper], did make her reach for her weapon as she thought her another of the people from the mine they were kept at after the hunting mission failed. A few words passed between her and Steve was the extent of her voicing her suspicions, however.
On the mission, Renala was given a full suit of armor with a human's helmet to blend in. She also got a new name to identify herself with: Jasmine Gilani. That was no issue to the asari who has had many names in her past. The infiltration worked as far as getting to Vasquez, but no further, and it was up to the other team to get them and the second package out of there.
It was a messy ordeal with many of the team returning with injuries, but Renala lucked out in that regard. Steve fared much worse, and had gotten in a fight with the other Redrock personnel there and even [Halisi|Dr. Halisi] has been a source of annoyance to him.
Steve: Henrik's Help
Renala had not taken an active role in dealing with the ghost of Steve's past, but then she ran into Henrik by the apartment building while coming home from work that day. He introduced himself by name and expressed concerns about Steve's mental health problems, even confirming that the bodies she helped hide were actually his people.
He tried talking Renala into stepping away for a moment, even bribery, but she was not having any of it. Probably realizing how futile it was, he ordered his men to strike. Renala sprung to action by throwing him halfway across the street before warning Steve of the impending attack. He broke the call after acknowledging it without her realizing it, so she grew increasingly worried while fighting her way inside. Renala ended up calling for assistance.
Steve had made good use of the warning and set himself up with a defensive position, and managed to take out the men that got to the apartment. Henrik had called for reinforcements, but neither Henrik nor his reinforcements were anywhere to be seen. Steve did explain himself to Redrock after that, but they were not involved in their search for Henrik.
Using information from a bargain with Quinn, they acted quickly and raided the prefab rental unit where Henrik was holed up. The people inside were woefully unprepared for the attack and so Renala and Steve gained the upper hand almost immediately. There was a woman in there with Henrik, who Steve incapacitated immediately before getting ready to interrogate Henrik who was in no shape to fight.
Henrik's omni-tool showed a few messages about a third party that was interested in getting Steve alive, but unwilling to offer any more support in doing so. Given that and what information he surrendered before Steve took him out, she was at least allowed to hope that this was the end of the problems of his past.
Much needed Vacation
After helping with Henrik, Steve told Renala that she should take a vacation and go home to see her daughter, and she intended to heed it. Thus, when the call for help was sent out on the day Li was kidnapped, she refused to go on the job. Renala had a flight off-world in just a few hours and intended to take it. Vasquez protested, but nobody on the ship kept her from walking out; perhaps seeing her state.
That night, she gathered information from Jack of Diamonds's crew and secured every piece of technology from Ilyna's apartment that could pose a risk to Redrock's security if it fell into the wrong hands. She also contacted Uvena during the night to help her. So when the flight departed, she was on it.
She did not speak much of her time on Thessia, but it was far from enough to make up for her absence. Renala recounted an attempt to try to make Aeyna understand, but that just caused the rift between them to increase – how dare she waste the time they had together on a walk in the park?
Renala was eventually called back from vacation as the work back on Aite started piling up with the Collectors and Jason needing help with about Nari Aehan, a shady figure from Va'ynna's past. Of course, she wasn't happy about it, and Aeyna took it even worse.
Celebrations
Her original plan for Christmas was to spend it with Aeyna and family friends back home, but that wasn't how it was going to go now that she was back in Freedom Falls. Instead, she was left with spending it at the Miner's Respite to keep Steve company. She did help Uvena and Ilyna out with their presents ahead of the day, but declined Uvena's invitation to spend it with them.
The night at the Respite was not very eventful. She complained about how she had ruined Aeyna's Christmas, but she was not unique in having a bad day at the Respite that evening. She shared a pizza with Steve while speaking briefly with Tank about her own children. Then Lema showed up after her father had failed to get out of work for dinner. It ended with Steve and her walking home.
Skills
Tech
Renala is not much of a combat tech. She cannot conjure drones in the middle of a fight, hurl fireballs or zap people. She sees that as a waste of electricity that's better spent on the things that need to be done when the fight is over.
Communication, networking, and finding weaknesses, that is her zone. She knows that all it takes is one weak link to break in. The asari spends countless hours honing her tools, discovering and trading weaknesses. On Aite, however, she also gets far picking low-hanging fruits from the public security disclosures where manufacturers have had ample time to address them.
In addition to tearing down others' systems, these skills also translate mostly into an ability to build and maintain them. She spent decades on Thessia in a software consultancy firm, where she got to develop these skills. She also has an interest in the things closest to the metal, from bringing old devices back to life to building them with whatever junk she can find on the market. That's mostly how she spends the downtime while waiting for something to fail or a task to complete.
Renala acknowledges that she's not able to keep up with the ever-growing list of resourceful enemies that Redrock Agency is accruing, especially considering one of them just kicked the Collectors' ass. She makes no secret of that.
Biotics
Her biotics are powerful enough to get the job done and have the diverse range one could expect for a combatant that has come out of the other side of a maiden stage spent almost entirely on hostile worlds. However, she'd stand no chance against someone with proper military training and discipline. Even if muscle memory stands the test of time well, her time on Aite hasn't been enough to completely bring her back to where she was before.
Renala can do a good throw that can even knock a heavier target off their feet, but other than that she has not practiced much with telekinesis at the range or with anything heavier than a component or tool just out of reach.
The asari can make a strong warp field, that would be fatal for an unprotected target. However, the sheer brutality of it means it sees little use as Renala reserves it for when she really means it. One exception to her reservation is that she can use it for breaching as it weakens materials and reacts with other fields.
In an emergency, Renala can pull off a decent barrier bubble, but it tires out the asari very quickly. A perceptive biotic will notice this inefficiency. It was more typical of her to be inside such a bubble in the past than the one holding it up, which is what sparked her to learn how to do these herself. Since coming to Aite, Renala has only put these to use a few times; one of these times being to protect Cross and a receptionist from terrorists.
She can also do a decent stasis field, as Victoria got to learn on the mission to retake her ship. She can only use it on one target at a time, however.
Renala knows how to do a singularity, but she learned that late and hasn't really had the time or desire to practice it before leaving that life behind with the maiden stage. It can disrupt even a heavy target and get them off their feet, but it's not the solar system of flailing mercs it ought to be.
Weapons
Renala knows her way around small arms and can fire with reasonable precision at short and medium ranges. She's useless at long range, however.
Equipment
Weapons
Gadgets
- Extension (Unused)
- Crawler Prototype (Destroyed)
