Morinthbio

 

Morinth-Mirala

 

Role:

                Morinth's story in ME3 is part of Liara's quest to gain war support by intimidating the asari “Forum of Matriarchs” to put their best troops, gunships, fleets (complete with several cruisers and dreadnoughts), scientists, and even corporations towards the war effort. Officially, Liara, (as the daughter of a rogue --dishonorable-- matriarch, and as the shadow broker) cannot be granted an audience with the matriarchs unless invited (something that they refuse to do, believing that Liara might be indoctrinated due to Benezia's close proximity with Sovereign). However, the Forum is required to grant an audience to any justicar, and by extension anyone a justicar takes with her, into the. Morinth is still masquerading as her dead mother, Samara, and as such can enter the forum with minimal difficulty. The military support gained by Morinth's successful influence on the asari is 3 fully developed Ardat-Yakshi, with each worth 20 asari commandos, making them worth 60 military points in total. In addition, she comes with a small eclipse army worth 1000 military points. She is the most powerful political ally for gaining favor with the asari councilor on the Citadel as well.

Recruitment:

                Morinth's recruitment mission is a disturbing look into the perversions and practices of Ardat-Yakshi when free to roam. Liara, aware that Morinth is not Samara, suggests using the Ardat-Yakshi's disguise as Samara to speak to the matriachs in person. T'soni is afraid of the Ardat-Yakshi, but is more afraid of what damage could come if a larger alliance with the matriarchs isn't made. Tracking Morinth from the end of ME2, Liara informs Shepard that “Samara” has been spotted “reforming” a large band of asari mercenaries on the planet of [X]. These mercenaries work for the infamous gang known as the Eclipse Sisters. The Eclipse has been kidnapping thousands of young asari since the reaper assault, in an attempt to bolster their ranks to hold down their bases throughout the galaxy. Actually though, they are using the kidnapped troops, many of whom qualify in asari culture as “child-soldiers”, as distractions to keep the reapers away from their main bases of operations. Young asari are drugged with the substance called “red sand” continuously, shipped off to old settlements from long gone asari colonies, where the troops are abandoned and used as diversionary fodder for husk forces. The ultimate result of these slaughters is that asari husks are common amongst the reapers' slave force – and Liara points out that the reapers probably aren't fooled by the diversion either, but they likely see the inexperienced and isolated mercenaries as easy prey to harvest into an army.  

                “Samara” (actually Morinth) is not fooled by the Eclipse Sisters' trick's either, but she seems to have found an alternative choice to destroying them, as the compound where the mercenaries are being held seems to be intact and still producing massive amounts of the drug red sand. According to Liara, seecurity footage shows Morinth fighting her way into the compound alone. It is up to Shepard and his squad to find out how to stop the asari drug factory, and as a second objective, discover what became of Morinth.

                Shepard takes the kodiak to the main entrance of the compound, which is located on a large island in the middle of a stormy sea. High gray walls scarred with explosive shells and bullet holes frame a giant metal security door which has been “ripped” open. There are no dead Eclipse Sisters to be found, however. In inside of the compound is comprised of colony-standard barracks, all intact and occupied by asari mercenaries who seem to be either entoxicated by some drug, or scared senseless. The compound is the size of a small city, with maybe an estimated 1000 people having inhabited it. At the far end of the village is a large factory building where asari slaves produce large amounts of red sand. Shepard guesses that Morinth is in that direction, so the squad heads that way. The asari seen on the way to the compound don't seem to notice Shepard and company. Shepard's squad mates comment on Morinth's perversion, devastation, and skill, along the way to the factory. Liara is particularly disturbed, and angered that Shepard worked with the Ardat-Yakshi in ME2. The commander finds Morinth standing in the rain before a crowd of black -eyed asari spectators, apparently ordering her troops to work harder in the drug factory. She is no longer dressed in her mother's justicar  outfit, instead adopting black and silver commando leathers. Her troops, (apparently more/less intelligent in close proximity to her) draw their weapons on Shepard, but Morinth tells them to put their guns down. She greets Shepard warmly.

 Paragon blue Shepard is sickened by Morinth's “indoctrination”, and can tell her that she has had her fun, and must now release all of her slaves. Morinth, Liara, and Shepard will have a brief argument, and Morinth will attack Shepard, along her troops. Part way through the fight she will become wounded and flee to her headquarters, using her slaves as protection. Shepard and company fight their way to her headquarters.

Paragon (normal) Shepard is sickened by Morinth's “indoctrination”, and tells her that the only reason he's looking for her is because he needs Morinth's justicar disguise to reach the Forum of Matriarchs. Morinth takes Shepard and company to her head quarters.

Neutral Shepard is wary of Morinth, but tells her that he needs her justicar disguise to reach the Forum of Matriarchs. Morinth takes Shepard and company to her headquarters.

Renegade (normal) Shepard is sickened by Morinth's “indoctrination”, and tells her that the only reason he's looking for her is because he needs Morinth's justicar disguise to reach the Forum of Matriarchs. Morinth takes Shepard and company to her headquarters.

Renegade red Shepard is pleased with Morinth's control of the asari mercenaries (disliking the Eclipse), and hopes that she is having fun subduing one othe the galaxy's most troubling gangs. Liara (particularly if she is a love interest) will be disgusted with Shepard and Morinth. Morinth takes Shepard and company to her headquarters.

On the way up to the headquarters, Shepard and company are assaulted by a gunship and squad of guerilla soldiers, lead by a mercenary named Aleena.

If Morinth was attacked by Shepard, she will order the gunship to assault Shepard. Shepard can damage the craft, a cutscene shows Aleena (who is under Morinth's control) jumping out of the gunship, and she will fight Shepard on foot as a mini boss.

If Morinth is in cooperation with Shepard, it will turn out that Aleena was the leader of the original Eclipse gang before Morinth took over, and she is attempting to retake the base. Morinth crushes the gunship with pure biotic force, a cutscene shows Aleena (who is under Morinth's control) jumping out of the gunship, and she will fight Shepard on foot as a mini boss.

Morinth's head quarters are in the control center of the red sand lab. Inside, scantly clad slaves drape themselves around a throne which they apparently erected in worship of their Ardat-Yakshi leader. Morinth takes a seat on her thrown, and Shepard can talk to her, with a general inquiry on where she was, and what she spent the past 6 months doing.

Morinth agrees to join Shepard on the Normandy. She is automatically taken to the Citadel, where she wishes to speak with Tevos about learning the location of other Ardat-Yakshi. After “Forum of Matriachs” mission, Morinth can be found on Thessia's hub world.

Onboard the SR2, she makes dark-comedy out of Shepard's squad mates constantly, including James, Garrus/Talon, Tali/Kal, and Kaiden/Ashley – none of whom (despite Liara's constant warnings), seem to understand the concept of an Ardat-Yakshi. Morinth is extremely frightened of Javik, and refuses to be in the same room as him. Javik theorizes that this is because she fears making even the slightest physical contact with a species who has a nervous even more sensitive than her own. Perhaps she fears that, upon contact, Javik will see her for what she truly is.

 

Missions:

Morinth is a temporary squad mate for a number of missions, not including her recruitment mission. She is too busy onboard the Citadel looking for other Ardat-Yakshi via computer at C-sec to be a permanent squad-mate. The reapers are targeting the few remaining Ardat-Yakshi, and converting them into super powered husks, which can wreak havoc on settlements singlehandedly. These husks are known as “sirens”. Her missions are always activated by finding her on the Citadel where she works.

In “Forum of Matriarchs” mission, Morinth is the single most powerful advocate for Shepard's and Liara's plans on how to deploy the Crucible against the reapers. She, along with a small handful of other matriarchs, sit in the chamber while listening to Shepard's plans, and their presence both honors and frightens the matriarchs. Morinth can forcibly take over the Forum, and spur the rest of the asari forces on Thessia into action. Before the meeting Shepard and Morinth will have a strategy laid out on how to convince the matriarchs to join the war:

Shepard can tell Morinth to either attempt to remain in her justicar disguise – which will fail ultimately due to the Matriarchs' knowledge of Ardat-Yakshi presences. When “Samara” is asked to speak, Morinth will attempt to give off an imitation of her mother, and rally the asari to war through a speech of matriarchal duty. Unfortunately one of the oldest matriarchs senses Morinth's aura, and realizes what they're dealing with. Morinth and Shepard fight their to each Matriarch (six in all), and perform CQC to disable their biotic concentration. Shadow Broker-boss-like quick scenes will then occur, showing Shepard and Morinth knocking the matriarchs down, while Liara rallys the remaining non-combative asari out of the chamber to safety. Morinth breaks through the matriarchs' biotic defenses after grappling with them, and mind melds with them in a flash, just like how Liara and Shiala used to mind meld with Shepard in Mass Effect 1. The matriarchs become docile and silent.

Shepard can tell Morinth to help him overthrow the matriarchs with her “dominate” ability. To do this successfully, Shepard and Morinth must get within close proximity with the guards in the room, and quietly dominate them. Shepard acts as a distraction, engaging each guard in coversation, and Morinth walks up mid coversation and stuns/controls them by mind melding. During the Forum's session,  Morinth (“Samara”) is asked for her input. Shocking the ancient asari leaders, Morinth curses the matriarchs for driving her kind (Ardat-Yakshi) to the shadows of space, and will then attack them. When the asari call in their guards, Morinth's ability to dominate their will allows her to force the security to knock down three of the matriarchs, stunning them. Shepard and Morinth dominate the rest of them, while Liara just stands there, apparently too shocked to act. The matriarchs become docile and silent.

Upon enslaving the old asari spiritual leaders, Morinth declares herself ruler of the planet Thessia, and forces the matriarchs to obey Shepard in joining the war effort. As Thessia and the outlining colony worlds are being invaded by only a few hundred reapers (most of the pressure from their invasion lies on Earth, Kar'shun, and Palaven), many asari forces that were previously building planetary defenses, or stemming hordes of incompetent husks can be more directly involved in the war. Morinth publicly hides the fall of the Forum of Matriarchs on reaper forces, and uses some of her matriarch slaves as evidence for this. Three mission after the Forum of Matriachs, however, Morinth has consumed four of the six matriarchs, absorbing their powers and experiences in the process, and collapsed one of the asari's largest republics in order to devote full resources to the war, which she blames on a local reaper invasion. Most of Thessia doesn't suspect a thing. A self proclaimed matriarch, Morinth is is perhaps the most powerful asari, biotic, and Ardat-Yakshi in galactic history. She radiates biotic energy, and can be found on a massive library on “Thessia” hub world, along with a security force of Eclipse Sisters. When the “Forum of Matriachs” mission is complete, she will only appear here (instead of the Citadel), but Morinth will be available for her usual missions, with the exception of her the “Hidden Wards” mission onboard the Citadel (usually available for all permanent and temporary squad-mates).

Her biotic abilities will gain a monumental increase of power – making her twice as biotically strong as even fully upgraded adept Shepard. Morinth has the biotic skill called “void”, which works as a stronger version of “singularity” – being able to effect enemies with low level shields. “Void” pulls all enemies in a 20 meter range to a biotic singularity summoned high the air, where they are slammed together into a spinning ball, before the singularity explodes, throwing all enemies caught in its radius to be thrown apart with the force of a fully upgraded biotic “slam” ability.

 

2)      Saving the Ardat-Yakshi is a mission in which Morinth travels to the southern most continent of Thessia to save her two Ardat-Yakshi sisters from reaper forces. While strong asari make powerful husks when in the form of “banshees”, Ardat-Yakshi are made into terrifying reaper constructs known as “sirens”, each with the biotic power to wipe out entire platoons of soldiers, and only matched in biotic skills by justicar warriors. Morinth hopes to protect her sisters from this terrible fate, and protect the Thessia from this potential problem as well. The sisters live in their own Ardat-Yakshi fortress, that is well supplied and protected, even after the centuries that the asari spent their. Reaper troops have been moving up the countryside, destroying many of the major cities along their path towards the fortress.

                Shepard and Morinth go to the fortress to find that many of the staff and security have been killed by the husk army.

If Morinth is already ruler of Thessia, she will order the remaining security guards to point her in the direction of her sisters. The guards, sensing Morinth's genetic disability will become hostile, and unless Shepard intervenes with paragon dialogue to Morinth or renegade scare tactics to the guards, they will attack, and Shepard and company must dispatch them.

If Morinth is not ruler of Thessia, she will attack the security guards without Shepard's permission. Paragon and neutral Shepard will attempt (successfully) to regain control of Morinth. Renegade Shepard will be intrigued to see what new biotic abilities Morinth has, as a result of her matriarch consumption.

Samara's daughters, Rila and Falere, are seen as leaders of their small, protective community, and are trying to rally the people onto escape shuttles. Rila pleads with Shepard/Morinth to save her friends, while the sisters will attempt to hold the evacuation shuttle strip. Shepard can choose to either save the trapped staff, or abandon the fortress.

a)      Save people trapped inside the atrium of the fortress is the decision that gains Shepard paragon points. If Shepard chooses this, Morinth stays with her sisters to make sure they are not killed by husks (much to Falere's horror at her estranged sister's reappearance). The commander and his squad mate enter the atrium and save people who are trapped by husk forces, sending them back to the shuttle outside. When Shepard finishes this objective, he finds that his resqued staff have successfully escaped on shuttles, and departed at Morinth's disgruntled command.

b)      Holding the landing pad, and escaping has Shepard and company fighting of a few waves of husk forces, abandoning the monastery staff to be devoured by the husk attack. This gains him renegade points. Rila is angry that Morinth didn't help, Falere is anguished, and Morinth genuinely doesn't care about the innocents' deaths, nor her sisters disapproval.

        Rila is intrigued and terrified of Morinth's (re)appearance, and Morinth, sensing her sister's internal longing to see the galaxy, tries to convince her younger siblings to finally be free. Rila then admits that, despite the reaper's devastation and destruction, their destruction offered her the one thing that their mother could not: freedom. Freedom to live not as an Ardat-Yakshi, but as a woman. Falere is shocked at Rila's confession, and shakily tries to reprimand her for these desires. Rila quickly responds by saying that she would not mate with anyone, for just like Falere, she has her physical desires under complete control. She may be free spirited and adventurous like Morinth, but she is not (yet) a psychopath. When Morinth is moved by these pleas, Rila becomes excited to finally be free, exclaiming that she just wants “to see a galaxy that she previously could only view from the extranet”. Falere, realizing that Rila won't be swayed, and sensing her mounting excitement, attempts to block her older sisters' path to the Normandy's Kodiak. Paragon/renegade prompts come up for Shepard:

If Shepard chooses the paragon prompt, he can step forward and tell Falere that that her safe extraction are mission priority, and she needs to get somewhere safe before making any decisions. Rila, Falere, and Morinth agree on this, and get aboard the Normandy.

If Shepard chooses the renegade prompt, he draws his gun on Falere and tells her that he will finish the mission no matter what – even if it means wounding Falere. Falere activates her meager biotics, but Rila steps in the way and convinces her that she should decide onboard the Normandy.

If Shepard ignores the prompts, then Falere attempts to throw a puny biotic warp at Rila, and Morinth (perhaps overreacting), smashes her youngest sister against a wall with a vanguard charge, mortally wounding her. Rila holds Falare as she dies, and begs for forgiveness. When Falare is dead, Rila joins Morinth, and hand in hand, the two sisters depart with Shepard.

– If both sisters were extracted successfully from their monastery, onboard the       Normandy Morinth will encourage her sisters to join her in at Thessia's library where they can “live like queens”. Rila is excited, but Falere wishes to honor Samara's wishes, and stay under her monastery staff's protection. Shepard can assist the conversation, with the paragon and neutral option successfully encouraging Falere to go with the rest of her staff members to another facility to hide from the Reapers, and the renegade option successfully encouraging Falere to join Morinth and Rila on Thessia. Before Morinth leaves, she tells Shepard to call her by her real name: “Mirala”.

--If  Falere was killed at her monastery by Morinth, Rila is distraught, but Morinth comforts her and they depart. Before Morinth leaves, she tells Shepard to call her by her real name: “Mirala”.

        The monastery staff quickly leaves the Normandy, but not before informing Shepard that they will be bringing the destruction of the monastery and escape of one/two Ardat-Yakshi to the attention of the matriarchs. They are not heard from again in ME3, and it is assumed that, when they went in search of the matriarchs they instead found a disagreeable Mirala and Rila.

        Like Mirala, Rila and Falere (if alive) can be found at the Matriarch's Library. After the sisters depart from the Normandy, Shepard can visit them. He finds that Mirala has convinced both sisters to meld with some of her personal Eclipse mercenary-slaves.

--Rila's character (stern, protective, but head strong) is mostly unchanged, but she still suffers from guilt of knowing that she is destroying the mercenaries' lives.

--Falere's character is dramatically changed (perhaps for the worst), as she is now addicted to the melding process, and spends much of her time in bed, recovering from what Mirala describes as “hangovers”. Falere has trouble with basic communication during conversations as a result of the highs she gets from mind melding.

3) Morinth can be a temporary squad mate while Shepard searches the hidden wards of the Citadel, looking for the Prothean VI, “Vehemence” – provided she has already been taken (recruited) to the Citadel by this point, and has not become queen of Thessia.

5)      Mirala can be a temporary squad mate in protecting the Citadel from the Reaper assault if Earth was abandoned and destroyed.

6)      Mirala can be a temporary squad mate in defending Earth if the was chosen to be saved during the war summit.

7) Mirala can be a temporary squad mate in protecting the Crucible while it is being connected to the Citadel or Collector Base, or deployed at Earth.

8)      Liara T'Soni will be quite disturbed by Morinth-Mirala's control of the asari in Mass Effect 3. If Liara is being romanced by Shepard, after the “Forum of Matriarchs” mission she will offer Shepard an ultimatum: he either kills Morinth, freeing Thessia's (now centralized) republics from Mirala's control (Liara will manage the republics as the Shadow Broker, and will reestablish several of the old separate asari republics), or she will no longer be able to carry on a relationship with Shepard.

If Shepard agrees to Liara's request, the side quest mission “Taking down Mirala” becomes available in which Shepard goes to the Matriachs' Library and kills Mirala. Mirala will be angered by Shepard's hostilities, claiming that she thought Shepard understood her need for freedom. Despite all dialogue options for Shepard, Mirala will attack him. She has the same biotic abilities as a siren-husk.

If disagrees to Liara's request, she will break up with Shepard. If Shepard's renegade points are high enough, he can convince T'Soni to take him back.

 

Accounting for variables:

If Morinth died in Mass Effect 2's suicide mission then she not appear in ME3. The mission to the Eclipse red sand compound is an investigation mission to either fight or bribe the mercenary band to stop producing red sand. Morinth's sisters represent their justicar mother at the Forum of Matriarchs.

If Morinth was killed by Samara in ME2, then she does not appear in ME3, obviously. A full detail on Samara's role in ME3 can be found in her character bio.

If Samara lost Morinth's trail in Mass Effect 2, then neither appear in Mass Effect 3, and Liara eventually discovers that Samara was killed by Morinth who then became. Morinth is featured in the side quest boss fight “Stop the siren”.

If Liara is not romancing Shepard, she will not confront him about taking down Mirala. Hints that she will try to do so herself will be available in ME3's epilogue sequence.