232: Mass Effect Was Supposed to Have Prostitutes

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm Commander Shepherd, and this is my favorite lorecast on the Citadel. [SPEAKER_06]: Welcome to the Mass Effect lorecast. [SPEAKER_06]: I'm in seven the legend. [SPEAKER_04]: And I'm Genesis. [SPEAKER_04]: Join us. [SPEAKER_06]: As we explore along tides of light. [SPEAKER_06]: And through sholes of dust.

[SPEAKER_06]: To see where this lore began. [SPEAKER_04]: And consider where it may go. [SPEAKER_06]: Specters. [SPEAKER_06]: Welcome back. [SPEAKER_06]: After a delayed episode of the Mass Effect Lorcast, I am your host in 7th legend and joining me as always is the wonderful Genesis. [SPEAKER_04]: Hello, hello.

[SPEAKER_04]: I am happy to be back. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, and as our listeners can probably hear in my voice, I am battling a cold among other things, so I am going to try and give my voice a rest which actually works out Genesis because you were the one who did the majority of the research for this week's episode.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so last episode we talked about Calliston and all of the cut content that had been found through data mining and everything like that, and you covered the main mission that is on Calliston. [SPEAKER_04]: And I was covering the side missions. [SPEAKER_04]: And so that's where we are going to continue on our conversation tonight.

[SPEAKER_06]: That's right. [SPEAKER_06]: I see a kitty tail flicking around your microphone. [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, Maya is here with me tonight, so if you hear any meows, purrs, or screams in the background, I'm not murdering the cat, she is just very, very vocal. [SPEAKER_06]: Ah, yes. [SPEAKER_06]: Well, I get that.

[SPEAKER_06]: Our new dog is a whiner. [SPEAKER_06]: So, if anyone hears him whining, it's, he's fine. [SPEAKER_06]: He's just, [SPEAKER_06]: and attention seeking little pop. [SPEAKER_06]: So that being said, you know, where do we get started here? [SPEAKER_06]: We, you know, we already mentioned the main episode of the main mission of Caliston.

[SPEAKER_06]: We were already diving into what makes some of this cut content so regrettable that we didn't have it. [SPEAKER_06]: But now we have a mission called free prostitutes. [SPEAKER_06]: which last week I joked that I wasn't sure whether or not we were supposed to free them as if they were imprisoned, or whether their services were free.

[SPEAKER_06]: And I think that joke went over a little like some people's heads because they were like in the comments and multiple areas they were like, well, you know, actually. [SPEAKER_06]: Technically, if they were free, they're not prostitutes. [SPEAKER_04]: Yep, that is factual, but I'll actually take it a step back further here and just go over a quick character reminder, because it has been a minute since we talked about these people, and we've got like three characters that I wanted to mention before I get into the prostitute side mission.

[SPEAKER_06]: Nice, throw an inside mission there at the end. [SPEAKER_06]: before we get into the prostitutes. [SPEAKER_04]: Let's talk about the characters in the form of it. [SPEAKER_04]: We have Sessa Terrent, who is the human leader of the Miners Union, and she is in love with the Cartel leader's brother, the Celery, and Raqueloma, and she was then contracted to kill him.

[SPEAKER_04]: We have Sebastian Van Hürden, and he is a human assigned to guard Tatiana Nadeneov while at the seventh moon bar, and don't worry, we will get to Tatiana soon. [SPEAKER_04]: And then Administrator Noya Trombiri, she is the human Administrator of the town of Throdown and the Secret Leader of the Union.

[SPEAKER_04]: the two warring faction gangs in this are the cartel and the union. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, and so right away, I'm getting the sense that most of the people involved here and across Caliston that we will meet are human beings. [SPEAKER_06]: They're not aliens. [SPEAKER_04]: Right. [SPEAKER_04]: I think I clearly state out when they are aliens and what species they are, but a majority of the people on Caliston are human.

[SPEAKER_06]: Well, that's a shame, because I was looking forward to an L-core prostitute. [SPEAKER_04]: Ah, yeah, no, I'm sorry, both of the prostitutes are human. [SPEAKER_06]: If you were to, if you're going to tell an L-core prostitute, that she, that he needed to speed up. [SPEAKER_04]: Hmm. [SPEAKER_04]: I guess this is also a good time to say that this probably is in a good episode for the kiddos.

[SPEAKER_04]: Let's put the explicit tag out there right now. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, surprise guys, when you talk about prostitutes, you talk about sex. [SPEAKER_04]: Yes. [SPEAKER_06]: For all of you pearl clutches out there. [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, the lears, the world. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, yep. [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, my stars.

[SPEAKER_06]: Retro bun, Chad says, seductively want some fun, big boy. [SPEAKER_04]: I, you know, we don't see any female L-Core that were aware of, so I wonder if they have a higher husky tone than the male counterparts. [SPEAKER_06]: I'm not going to try that right now. [SPEAKER_06]: I might if I was feeling better.

[SPEAKER_04]: Adaptively, want some fun, big boy. [SPEAKER_06]: There, there he go. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_06]: Would it be like an L-Core with blush? [SPEAKER_04]: That'd be kind of cute. [SPEAKER_04]: I wanna see the super girly version of the L-core eyelashes to feminize them. [SPEAKER_06]: I was gonna say, longer eyelashes, the blushem.

[SPEAKER_06]: Where would you even put lipstick on an L-core on the gills when it just feel like little, like greater than, and less than signs on the side of their head? [SPEAKER_04]: That's not an image I need to figure out where the lipstick on an L-core goes. [SPEAKER_06]: If you gotta ask, you can't afford it.

[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, it is going to get weird tonight, y'all. [SPEAKER_06]: Arties. [SPEAKER_04]: Um, yep. [SPEAKER_04]: But I do really want to talk about this mission, because it is actually really interesting, because these next two side missions really seem to go hand in hand as we discover information and a growing love story between some of the NPCs.

[SPEAKER_04]: And yes, it is love and not just paid for love. [SPEAKER_06]: So typical, someone falls in love with the prostitute. [SPEAKER_06]: I'm sorry, go on. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, we will actually have a frank discussion about typicals and stereotyping here in a minute. [SPEAKER_04]: But let's get into Calston Free prostitutes.

[SPEAKER_04]: Now this assignment would have been acquired through talking to the various prostitutes on Calistin, meaning that there are many and there are several throughout this mission. [SPEAKER_04]: But namely, Maddie Kedward for a male shepherd and Matthew Bauderlane for a female shepherd. [SPEAKER_04]: Or you could possibly talk to Tatiana herself.

[SPEAKER_04]: Now, of course, would stop being available once Shepherd has left throw down in search of Lyara so another side mission that you could get locked out of by advancing the main plot. [SPEAKER_06]: Okay, hold on. [SPEAKER_06]: you just said that it's different characters, different prostitutes, given the gender of the shepherd that you pick.

[SPEAKER_06]: Are you telling me that in the original Mass Effect, we would have been able to sleep with a prostitute? [SPEAKER_04]: You know, that's my exact thought, since we interact with these prostitutes based on shepherd's gender, would that imply that there could have been [SPEAKER_06]: Oh man, what do you think Hackett would say about Shepard using their alliance paycheck to pay for prostitutes?

[SPEAKER_04]: Hackett didn't say shit about sushi, all of it. [SPEAKER_06]: I was well, yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: Shepard. [SPEAKER_06]: Shigeria. [SPEAKER_06]: And the other thing is, at this point, Shepard is a specter. [SPEAKER_06]: So, it doesn't really matter what Hackett says. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's very, very true, and, you know, I have a lot of thoughts about, like, for me, I would have wanted both options.

[SPEAKER_04]: I also see that this is, yeah, it was very 2007 that it was heteronormative and that's okay, but it would have been nice. [SPEAKER_06]: I want to jump in real quick and say first of all that it wasn't okay, you know it was the way that it was but it wasn't okay, you know, our friends across the entire love spectrum should feel like they can play games the way they want to play games.

[SPEAKER_06]: But we've grown since then and that's good. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I like that way better. [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you. [SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so we actually have back story [SPEAKER_04]: So we have lore, they have lore attached to them, and I found that crazy. [SPEAKER_04]: So we'll go over Maddie first, and Maddie originates from Earth, and ended up on Caliston thanks to the Union and the contractual transit system.

[SPEAKER_04]: And that is an agreement that allows destitute citizens of Earth to travel to a colony in exchange, Maddie ended up working as a prostitute to pay the union back. [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, wow. [SPEAKER_06]: Okay. [SPEAKER_06]: So this is getting into like the human trafficking realm. [SPEAKER_04]: Mm-hmm.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: So this company, the union would pay for your travel in exchange for sex work once you got there. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, that's uh, that's, uh, that's a, that's a story. [SPEAKER_06]: It's an insurance service. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a, and a

[SPEAKER_04]: Now, she resents her job and laments that she had no choice in this matter, as Eldfield Ashland Energy would claim that it's none of their business. [SPEAKER_04]: So she tried to get out of it by contacting the company that helps sponsor it, but they were like once you make it to Caliston, it's up to you to find your own job and if all you found was here with the Union, well, then you're screwed, both figuratively and literally.

[SPEAKER_06]: you know when we were talking about in the episode of how did humanity spread throughout the start so quickly we were talking about the population sizes of different colonies and as opposed to earth and how did those population sizes grow so quickly. [SPEAKER_06]: And I have to wonder if this contractual transit system that would have been introduced in Mass Effect One was kind of laying the groundwork to show the player that, hey, the reason why a lot of colonists across human space are not just super wealthy people is because [SPEAKER_06]: human companies and the black market extorted the poor on earth for a shot at a better life.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so it brings in, it does bring into that. [SPEAKER_04]: There are these big huge companies that are willing to finance people to head out to their colonies, but then it's kind of up to the person [SPEAKER_04]: you know. [SPEAKER_06]: So this is, this is, um, I actually like this part about 2007ish era games where they weren't afraid to approach really hard and dark topics like this, um, because this kind of thing happens with immigrants in real life.

[SPEAKER_06]: They are in extremely vulnerable positions, most of the time, if they're using some kind of, you know, could pro quo, if you will, transit to another country. [SPEAKER_06]: And they are in extremely vulnerable positions, and very, very often, there are people who are going to take advantage of that.

[SPEAKER_06]: And unfortunately, [SPEAKER_06]: sex trafficking and human trafficking are a large part of that. [SPEAKER_06]: And it's really messed up, but I can see how they were weaving the real elements of this into this mission. [SPEAKER_04]: And we do get to see a little bit of this in the quarry in the indentured servitude quest line on [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_04]: So, the reason that Maddie is here is to help advance the cross line, of course, and she can offer some insight into the situation between Jason Hara and Tatiana and Nadena of Ushepard. [SPEAKER_04]: So she's here for the exposition. [SPEAKER_04]: If the union is eventually taken down, she is grateful to Shepard as the union's prostitution ring also ceases to exist.

[SPEAKER_04]: So, this is how you can help free the prostitutes by breaking up the Union's ring. [SPEAKER_04]: She says, yeah, she says, now she works at the refinery and is unsure whether she'll stay on Calliston in the future. [SPEAKER_04]: So, you can help break her free. [SPEAKER_06]: So, okay, so this is not exactly what I imagined when I was talking about the union, you know, last episode, but man, they are a lot, they are a lot darker and more criminal than I even realized.

[SPEAKER_06]: So it's not just about drug trades, right? [SPEAKER_06]: It's about human trafficking, but it's cool that you get, as the player, you get the agency, [SPEAKER_06]: to it looks like you would have gotten the agency to choose to take them down and break up the prostitution ring or to be that, you know, evil, couldn't quote evil, dark side character uh, who kind of looks the other way.

[SPEAKER_04]: for sure because it is like we talked about last time is that you get the opportunity to keep the union together or break them up completely and these are some of the consequences of what would happen if you decide to keep them together. [SPEAKER_04]: Is that it business stays as usual?

[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_06]: All right. [SPEAKER_06]: Well, so Matty is clearly at a vulnerable position and there's a definite power dynamic at play there. [SPEAKER_06]: Is that the case with each of the prostitutes? [SPEAKER_04]: So what we only have the backstory for Matthew, which is the, he would show up if your, if your shepherd is female, and he has the same backstory of growing up on earth, taking the Elderfield Ashland deal to get to Caliston, and then ends up being a prostitute through the union.

[SPEAKER_04]: However, Matthew appears to love working as a prostitute, and continues to do so willingly, even if the union is taken down. [SPEAKER_06]: Hey, loves what he does. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so, I mean, they obviously fall into the stereotype that men would love to get paid for having sex while the woman wants out ASAP.

[SPEAKER_04]: Even though they have the exact same story, the exact same background, the exact same I'm being forced into this job. [SPEAKER_04]: But here we are, dudes just want to get laid and you're getting paid for it. [SPEAKER_06]: Hell yeah. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, yeah. [SPEAKER_06]: Okay, yeah, that's problematic and also that the whole I know you're joking about the hell, yeah, apart there's so much about early Mass Effect that was kind of written in that hell, yeah mind set, you know, and that went into like Mass Effect too like anyone who's done the Miranda romance knows what I'm talking about because a lot of it was like I can see where some of the developers were coming from because it was it was

[SPEAKER_06]: almost like a parody of old sci-fi, like, you know, 60s, 70s sci-fi. [SPEAKER_06]: However, it got to the point I think in some areas where, you know, when you start doing something ironically, [SPEAKER_06]: and you do it to the point where you're not even doing it ironically anymore, and I think some of the parts probably came through like that if we're looking on the positive end.

[SPEAKER_06]: But yeah, I can see why that's problematic because they have the same backstory. [SPEAKER_06]: Now, if they wanted to introduce Matthew as a complete [SPEAKER_06]: easily different character with a unique story, right? [SPEAKER_06]: Um, that's a different, uh, but it sounds like basically, there were decisions made about how shepherd could possibly influence either of the prostitutes, specifically dependent on shepherd's gender.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and for me it's like I understand that this is kind of the trope that they fell into and the way that things are being perceived, but I also would have liked to see the man being like, I don't want to be here. [SPEAKER_04]: I don't want to be in this situation. [SPEAKER_04]: It's not like I would want the woman to be the complete opposite where she's like, yeah, I'm having a blast.

[SPEAKER_04]: This is great. [SPEAKER_04]: No, forced prostitution is forced prostitution. [SPEAKER_04]: I don't think anybody wants to be in that situation. [SPEAKER_04]: And so having that be the storyline, and then having them both play out that way would have been better in my opinion, or [SPEAKER_04]: You know, if both of them wanted to stay in it, but becoming, you know, somebody who is more of the caretaker role, making sure that guidelines and rules and things were being followed and that this union.

[SPEAKER_04]: and actual sex workers union came into play that had protections, you know, I'm thinking about the way that literally Amsterdam in the Red Light District is around where there are state laws, regulations, rules, guidelines, criminality to the people who end up abusing sex workers. [SPEAKER_06]: Isn't there a character in Cyberpunk 2077 who's quite similar to this in terms of, you know, it's been a while since I played through it, but who's quite similar in terms of like they look forward to opening up their own club one day and being out of that power dynamic, but staying [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so that kind of ties into the whole Judy Alvera's quest line and helping Michael.

[SPEAKER_04]: Michael is once a worker, then kind of worked her way up to middle management, and then you have the opportunity as we to help her kill her boss. [SPEAKER_04]: So that way she can take over and have more protection for the dolls, the sex workers in the club, rather than having this horrible, horrible human running it.

[SPEAKER_06]: kind of sounds like we might get a similar or might have gotten a similar opportunity in free prostitutes to kill the boss. [SPEAKER_06]: So to speak, as Shepherd, right? [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah, it does very much does because we have the opportunity to dismantle the union and I really would have loved to have seen this and I think we might have the opportunity to do so, which would be really cool.

[SPEAKER_04]: But I do have one other character who is also working as a prostitute and that is Tatiana. [SPEAKER_04]: She, uh, during her time working as a prostitute, Tatiana was apparently rather popular. [SPEAKER_04]: Now, at some point, security chief Jason met her as a customer, and she was surprised by his polite manners and respectful attitude, which set him apart from the rest.

[SPEAKER_04]: So here we have confirmation that the people who are paying these sex workers have no respect are not polite. [SPEAKER_04]: They don't have manners if one guy can make such a huge difference by just showing a little bit of human compassion. [SPEAKER_04]: Now, as these two fell in love, Jason made a deal with Tatiana's employer, the union via Sessa.

[SPEAKER_04]: And that was to be able to stay with her in exchange for keeping out of their business. [SPEAKER_04]: Let Tatiana go free and Jason will stay out of the shady or side of your business. [SPEAKER_04]: if he thinks that he can only save the one person and this is the one card that he could play.

[SPEAKER_04]: I see that until shepherd steps in and is like I can provide more support to you and we can save everyone. [SPEAKER_06]: Well, yeah, that's the positive way to look at it. [SPEAKER_06]: I mean, the negative way is that he was thinking with his other head. [SPEAKER_04]: girl. [SPEAKER_04]: It seems a little bit of it's heart to though.

[SPEAKER_04]: They are falling in love. [SPEAKER_06]: Okay. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_06]: Sure. [SPEAKER_04]: All right. [SPEAKER_04]: Well, however, after the war with the cartel began, Tatiana was forced to tell Jason that she was breaking up with him and that she never loved him. [SPEAKER_04]: Before being taken away and guarded by hired mercenary, Sebastian Banheridan, who keeps everyone away from her.

[SPEAKER_04]: So now your best girl is out of a job because Sebastian and Sessa aren't letting anyone near her. [SPEAKER_06]: Wow. [SPEAKER_06]: So I was right. [SPEAKER_06]: It was not love. [SPEAKER_04]: She was forced to tell him that. [SPEAKER_04]: So that way. [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, I'm sorry. [SPEAKER_06]: I missed that part.

[SPEAKER_06]: Okay. [SPEAKER_06]: Okay. [SPEAKER_06]: So, so right. [SPEAKER_06]: So she doesn't actually believe that, but her arms kind of getting twisted. [SPEAKER_04]: During the course of the mission commander Shepard may meet Tatiana after convincing Van here at in it to be allowed to talk to her, so apparently Shepard can get past the bodyguard.

[SPEAKER_04]: She will then profess her profound love for Jason and Shepard may be able to convince Jason to quit drinking alcohol. [SPEAKER_04]: that's a huge part of Jason's character story that we just find out about here randomly. [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, okay. [SPEAKER_06]: All right. [SPEAKER_06]: This is interesting.

[SPEAKER_06]: So basically he's a heavy drinker and not only can can shepherd play, you know, like detective breaking up the human trafficking ring, but also play therapist and counselor. [SPEAKER_06]: Good. [SPEAKER_04]: Now, there are a couple ways that a confrontation with Jason can go if things go badly when Jason goes to the seventh moon to confront Van Herdin.

[SPEAKER_04]: The latter manages to fatally wound him and Tatiana cries by his side as he dies. [SPEAKER_04]: otherwise the couple leaves the bar unharmed and Jason suggests hiding Tatiana in a safe place until things blow over. [SPEAKER_04]: Shepard may suggest letting her on board the SSV Normandy for a time.

[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, you wouldn't suggest that wouldn't you, Shepard. [SPEAKER_04]: This is Tatiana, not Maddie. [SPEAKER_06]: Well, okay, yeah, fair. [SPEAKER_04]: So, uh, and she will show up in the cargo hold until Lyra is rescued later on, or Jason can go simply find her a good hideout by himself.

[SPEAKER_04]: At the end of the mission, the two are reunited once more and happily announced that they're getting married. [SPEAKER_06]: Awesome. [SPEAKER_06]: So we get the tragic ending of Jason dies and we get the happy ending of, you know, everyone lives and now they're getting married and prancing through a meadow full of flowers.

[SPEAKER_06]: Okay. [SPEAKER_06]: So that's good. [SPEAKER_06]: That's, you know, the classic Mass Effect Paragon. [SPEAKER_06]: We're in a good quest line. [SPEAKER_06]: Okay. [SPEAKER_06]: I would have liked having this in there. [SPEAKER_04]: I agree, uh, I think that it would have been really interesting to see if we could get all the little pieces to work together, uh, I do have a little bit of a overall plot line that I can go over, uh, now that we've kind of introduced all the characters, um, after having heard of the problem, Shepherd has told to talk to Sessa to offer to buy the prostitutes contracts, [SPEAKER_04]: which would solve the issue at hand.

[SPEAKER_04]: Shepherd who's building a harem, a parent. [SPEAKER_06]: I can't see what's going on. [SPEAKER_06]: Let's see what's going on on the cargo bay, man. [SPEAKER_04]: All right. [SPEAKER_04]: Alternatively, another way would be to free the, to free the prostitutes would be to ask the administrator at a certain part during the last man's standing mission.

[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so apparently just asking for it. [SPEAKER_04]: Or finally, if Tom Berry stops being the administrator in any way, because she's either killed a wrestler or is otherwise missing, the prostitutes can also be considered free. [SPEAKER_04]: So if Tom Berry is gone, the prostitutes are free.

[SPEAKER_04]: but you still have to go back and tell each and every single one of them that this was the outcome in order for them to be free. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, that sounds like 2007 as well. [SPEAKER_06]: So all right, nice. [SPEAKER_06]: So basically, it sounds like you might be able to just kind of like circumvent a lot or you would have been able to circumvent a large part of the quest just by killing Tom Peary.

[SPEAKER_06]: That would be useful on a subsequent playthrough. [SPEAKER_06]: If he just didn't feel like going through all that song and dance and you knew what was going on, you'll have. [SPEAKER_06]: Kill Tom Beary. [SPEAKER_06]: It's fine. [SPEAKER_04]: Right. [SPEAKER_04]: Killer straight out the gate.

[SPEAKER_04]: And I think a lot of the missions on that would be done. [SPEAKER_04]: Last hand is over. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_06]: Last hand is over. [SPEAKER_06]: Free press. [SPEAKER_06]: The dudes is over. [SPEAKER_06]: All right. [SPEAKER_06]: Well, we still got another mission to talk about, right?

[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, right. [SPEAKER_06]: Awesome. [SPEAKER_06]: Well, let's get back to that after this mid-break. [SPEAKER_01]: We have beef, bacon, we have beer, the foods of my people. [SPEAKER_00]: Young men have funny ideas of what a story are like. [SPEAKER_00]: I blame the extra net and computer games.

[SPEAKER_02]: Rex, shepherd, grunt, shepherd, Rex. [SPEAKER_06]: All right, and here we are in the middle of the show. [SPEAKER_06]: This is the part where we would read out your five-star reviews. [SPEAKER_06]: Now, at last check, I didn't see any new ones on Apple podcasts. [SPEAKER_06]: However, we do have a number of comments on Spotify.

[SPEAKER_06]: And I just want to read this one because it was particularly heartwarming and made me happy. [SPEAKER_06]: it's by Sarah Ruta. [SPEAKER_06]: I think that's how you say her name. [SPEAKER_06]: So Sarah says, dear in seven legend and genesis, I wanted to leave a comment saying how comforting and funny this podcast is.

[SPEAKER_06]: I mean, university student and life on campus can be isolating sometimes. [SPEAKER_06]: So this podcast makes me feel like I'm a big part of a big old group of nerds geeking out about my favorite [SPEAKER_06]: Also shout out to Jim for standing my underrated beefy biotic boy, Kaden. [SPEAKER_06]: I'm a threw-in-through Kaden Romancer, thank you for the amazing podcast.

[SPEAKER_04]: I do love Caden. [SPEAKER_04]: I've got a sexy Caden sticker right behind me. [SPEAKER_04]: He is naked and glowing biotically. [SPEAKER_04]: I do love me, Caden. [SPEAKER_04]: I have actually played through Mass Effect 3 solo a couple of times just because I wanted to re-experience the romance over and over again.

[SPEAKER_06]: Nice, and you love the Caden romance in Mass Effect 3 for Brochette. [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, I do prefer a brochure in three and Femshep and M-E-1. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_06]: We get another comment from Region Tech, who says, hello, I first of all want to say that I love this podcast and also I hate you.

[SPEAKER_06]: How dare you make me want to play content that was cut? [SPEAKER_06]: I knew that planet that we recruit Lyra on was supposed to be bigger, it felt very empty to me, but now I know how big it was supposed to be. [SPEAKER_06]: It just hurts. [SPEAKER_06]: Can't wait for the next episode though.

[SPEAKER_06]: All right. [SPEAKER_06]: Well, thank you. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I also had that longing of wishing that I could play this. [SPEAKER_06]: Last time we were talking about this, I said, I wish that there was a mod that someone had made, and it turns out that there is. [SPEAKER_06]: It's called Calliston Restored.

[SPEAKER_06]: So you can go and find it on Nexus. [SPEAKER_06]: And I think it's still an alpha, so it's not finished, but I'll probably install it for my next playthrough. [SPEAKER_04]: I do have it installed right now. [SPEAKER_04]: I was thinking about streaming it to see how much we can get into it.

[SPEAKER_06]: Oh, that'd be awesome. [SPEAKER_06]: Yes. [SPEAKER_06]: I can't wait to see what that mod author has done with that. [SPEAKER_06]: But now it's time for a pop quiz for voice lines. [SPEAKER_06]: I've got one for you, Genesis. [SPEAKER_06]: Are you ready? [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, let's go. [SPEAKER_05]: There we go.

[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so that's garrison obviously. [SPEAKER_06]: Good one, yep. [SPEAKER_04]: Um, hmm. [SPEAKER_05]: I'll play one more time. [SPEAKER_05]: Hell no, how about a high speed chase before we die? [SPEAKER_04]: Mass Effect 3, Citadel DLC. [SPEAKER_06]: Uh, close, Nosegar, Mass Effect 3. [SPEAKER_06]: in his Citadel companion story mission, where you go shoot, yeah, the things from the pricidium, yes, okay, hmm, is that is are those the non romance lines?

[SPEAKER_06]: I don't know if that's non romance lines, I think it is, because I remember getting in, I've never [SPEAKER_06]: Okay, so maybe that's why I haven't heard those lines that often that Yeah, so that's when you're on route to get to the place that Garus wants to take you to Have some target practice Got it, okay All right, I can't believe I can't believe I got you on a Garbus line Um, so all right I will consider that a victory for me Um, we have a new patron to shout out the Frosty Russian [SPEAKER_06]: A lot of Americans are pretty frosty recently with that snowstorm kick and everyone's but We also have some tier 5 patrons that we want to shout out butts butts butts Unfortunate of benefactor William Superfly 440 Redtrabot Lutonets or Sino Kira C. Edboy and day Thank you all so much for your continued support of the show.

[SPEAKER_06]: It makes it possible and now Why don't we go back and talk about the remaining stuff on [SPEAKER_03]: After time adrift among open stars, a long tides of light and through shows of dust, I will return to where I began. [SPEAKER_01]: Celery and reproduction different, very little sex-trived.

[SPEAKER_01]: If intended to try human, would try you. [SPEAKER_01]: Ow, my bakeries. [SPEAKER_06]: Alright, so we have another mission that we get to talk about, and I believe that it was pretty closely related to the free prostitutes, right, Genesis? [SPEAKER_04]: it is very much related to it. [SPEAKER_04]: This one kind of shows the Jason side of the story rather than the prostitutes side.

[SPEAKER_06]: Oh, okay. [SPEAKER_06]: So you would have had to do this before he possibly died. [SPEAKER_04]: Right. [SPEAKER_04]: Well, I don't think that you I think both of these questions would kind of advance simultaneously because it would be talk to Madeline or talk to Matthew then go talk to Jason talk to Tatiana talk to Jason find out about the fact that the prostitutes are part of the union and then go through all of the Jason stuff here, which I will go over.

[SPEAKER_04]: So we, of course, go to the seventh moon, the bar that we talked about previously, and Shepard sees a throwdowns security officer, Jason Hara, and he's feebly walking up to Rushak to order some whiskey, Rushak is the bartender, of course, there. [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, near by van Herden, that security guard, visibly taunts him under Tatiana's horrified gaze.

[SPEAKER_04]: But Hara ignores him and moves on while Roshak recalls with the amusement, the beating that van Herden previously gave Hara. [SPEAKER_06]: But isn't Hara the security chief? [SPEAKER_04]: He is. [SPEAKER_06]: Oh man. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so they beat up the security chief and nobody's doing anything about it, especially not the security chief.

[SPEAKER_04]: Uh, and of course, this causes even tensions to rise even further. [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, and these are between Turians and humans, because I believe both Rashak is a Turian and he's got his buddies around him. [SPEAKER_04]: Um, and Hara tries to intervene to break up the fight, but the theory and start ganging up on him.

[SPEAKER_04]: No respect for the security chief. [SPEAKER_06]: Geez, yeah, this guy's like the butt end of every joke. [SPEAKER_06]: And he's alcoholic. [SPEAKER_06]: And then like, man, thinking about like how they can force Tatiana to tell him that she never loved him. [SPEAKER_06]: And then there's a possibility of him just dying after that, that's like so sad, like, Geez, man, who hates Jason?

[SPEAKER_04]: Why you gotta be hating on Jason? [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, but of course, this is the point that Shepherd can intervene by shooting or intimidating the Turians, or you can just say, not my circus, not my monkeys and stay out of it all. [SPEAKER_06]: I would have shot the Turians, just saying it right now.

[SPEAKER_06]: I would have shot them or depending on how cool the intimidation line was, maybe intimidated. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I think I think if it was a good run against line, I'd go for that. [SPEAKER_04]: Uh, but in either case, uh, Jason afterwards will not be exactly great fall, but he'll be less irritated if he wasn't beaten up, which makes sense.

[SPEAKER_04]: And we follow him back to his office. [SPEAKER_04]: And then at this point, you can either follow Jason to his office or go talk to Maddie, Tatiana, or Matthew, so we can then progress that quest line further. [SPEAKER_04]: You can also go visit Umberi or go directly to Jason in his office.

[SPEAKER_04]: Now, it's herying to talk to either van Herden or Tatiana at the bar won't bear any results as very Herden forbids her to talk to you. [SPEAKER_04]: And refuses to engage in any form of conversation. [SPEAKER_04]: So he really is at this point being the nobody gets to talk to Tatiana. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, at this point I would just be like counting down the minutes until I can kill van Herden.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: So, whatever the case, you can offer your help to Hara in this situation, telling him you need him to sober up before you take on the gang's plaguing the station. [SPEAKER_04]: And how do you get him to sober up? [SPEAKER_04]: Well, Harrow will keep relapsing into alcohol, as long as Shepherd hasn't picked up the bottles scattered around his office.

[SPEAKER_04]: So you stopped the alcoholism by just removing the alcohol from his office. [SPEAKER_06]: My goodness, one idea. [SPEAKER_06]: Why didn't I think of that? [SPEAKER_07]: It's so easy. [SPEAKER_06]: It's so easy. [SPEAKER_06]: Just stop drinking alcohol. [SPEAKER_06]: You know, that's just how addiction works.

[SPEAKER_06]: I'm glad that we've got some deep writing to explain it. [SPEAKER_04]: It's so not the biggest fan of that outcome, or that explained it all the way by pressing packing to cure alcoholism. [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, okay, but once you do pick up and remove all the alcohol, he will start thinking more clearly while complaining about withdrawal.

[SPEAKER_04]: So at least he's showing signs of a draw. [SPEAKER_04]: There's there's something, but even I can't still rely on this one. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_06]: Day in chat says Lil Yati in Drake in front of computer dot gift. [SPEAKER_06]: that's if you see that meme you know exactly yeah that that one um that's really not uh feeling they should have flushed that out a little more but I understand if they were trying to talk about pacing and how much time they have for the player to do everything on the planet maybe they were like okay that's a really deep thing to introduce but just solve you know within like [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, it would be very, very difficult to honestly help somebody through alcoholism in the matter of a side mission, but I guess maybe getting rid of the bottles in the office is step one and it's up to Jason to make the rest of the steps on the path.

[SPEAKER_04]: uh, then he, Jason asks Shepherd to talk to Tatiana and tell her how he really feels about her. [SPEAKER_04]: And she, he wants to know, does Tatiana really feel about me? [SPEAKER_04]: How does she really feel? [SPEAKER_04]: Was she forced into saying the evil things? [SPEAKER_04]: Or was that really how she felt?

[SPEAKER_06]: Hmm, okay. [SPEAKER_06]: Can you go tell, uh, Tatiana that I like her? [SPEAKER_04]: And she knew have her fill out this, it says, do you like me? [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, no, or maybe. [SPEAKER_04]: I really need the answer for you. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_06]: Okay. [SPEAKER_06]: I'm starting to wonder why Jason even got his job as security chief.

[SPEAKER_04]: I ain't shopping. [SPEAKER_04]: Jason can't go to her right now because of Anne Herden. [SPEAKER_04]: But apparently, moving along the quest line also means that Van Hirtan now allows Shepherd to go talk to Tatiana, or he can be persuaded to reveal the truth by appealing to his military past, because Van Hirtan was apparently in the military.

[SPEAKER_06]: Tell him to buck up, basically, I guess. [SPEAKER_04]: Now, either one will reveal that Tatiana still loves Jason, but was ordered by Van Heardon to lie with the threat that Jason would be harmed otherwise. [SPEAKER_04]: So Van Heardon is the one that said, you have to break things off with Jason, or I'm going to beat the shit out of him.

[SPEAKER_06]: Why? [SPEAKER_06]: Sounds like he's got it hot for Tatiana. [SPEAKER_04]: I, she was the number one client. [SPEAKER_06]: He's got it hot for Tots. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's so bad. [SPEAKER_06]: That's horrible. [SPEAKER_04]: Now, once you have this information, you can take it back to Jason and this will motivate him further to act and shepherd can then decide if now's the time for it, or if some other things should be taken care of first, which is always nice because I like doing all the side quests and all the missions, so this is like a pause where you can then go further the free [SPEAKER_04]: Now Shepard does choose to proceed in this moment, or when they pick the quest back up, uh, then going to the bar.

[SPEAKER_04]: Again, we'll trigger a scene where Van Hearden kills a man for getting too close to Tatiana. [SPEAKER_04]: Extremely protective. [SPEAKER_04]: What is going on here? [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, um, geez. [SPEAKER_06]: That's like a wow. [SPEAKER_06]: Okay, this guy is like out of control. [SPEAKER_04]: And of course, this causes tension between the terrients and the humans to rise once more as a result.

[SPEAKER_04]: And Jason demands to arrest Van Hearden. [SPEAKER_04]: Finally, he's pulling out his IM security around here at all. [SPEAKER_04]: You're under arrest. [SPEAKER_06]: Wow. [SPEAKER_06]: Okay. [SPEAKER_06]: Glad he decided to do his job for once. [SPEAKER_04]: right, and Shepherd can go full on Paragon or Renegade to make sure that everyone else leaves, or a shootout will happen between the humans and aliens, and Jason can be harmed.

[SPEAKER_04]: This would be the part of the quest line that we heard about earlier where he can die. [SPEAKER_06]: Gotcha. [SPEAKER_06]: Well, this sounds also like a pretty good way to naturally weave into stories, the lingering tensions between Turins and humans. [SPEAKER_06]: You know, that reminder that the first contact war was really not that long ago.

[SPEAKER_06]: It was one generation ago. [SPEAKER_04]: It was, it wasn't that long ago, and obviously the humans here being kind of like the second class citizens, they are the ones working the very meanial jobs in the refinery or they are the ones who are the prostitutes, well the Torians are kind of above that and are working some of the more valuable jobs on this colony.

[SPEAKER_04]: But if Jason does survive, it also makes him available for help during the confrontation with Sessa after dealing with Smiley, who we talked about last time, where he will be the one to prevent bloodshed if Shepherd doesn't use their trauma intimidate to diffuse the situation. [SPEAKER_04]: So if your scores aren't high enough, Jason's there's a fail save to make it so that way there's no bloodshed.

[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, okay, that's cool because that reminds me of some of the dynamics with Ranic and Mass Effect 3. [SPEAKER_06]: And or rather Tally's loyalty mission too. [SPEAKER_06]: So yeah, I like that the quest design was very similar to what we see later in the series. [SPEAKER_06]: It just kind of goes to show you that like that was somewhere they were going with this the entire time.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: So I mean, we do see little bits and pieces of this show up in future games and they, you know, like, especially the indentured servitude mission and just being able to, of course, use your paragonal renegade to broker peace between everyone. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, yeah, this is man that there's so much content that was cut.

[SPEAKER_06]: I just really cannot believe that's just one planet that I feel like I probably could have spent like three hours on maybe [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: And especially because then, you know, we still have to go and find Lyra and then all of her mission stuff would have happened.

[SPEAKER_04]: We don't have the descriptions on what that would have looked like in comparison to what we got. [SPEAKER_04]: But I'm pretty sure that that also would have been different and might have been a little bit more complex. [SPEAKER_04]: It might have been more involved rather than just [SPEAKER_06]: I'm not gonna lie like, if it had been like Calliston was originally planned, Mass Effect 1 would have felt more complete.

[SPEAKER_06]: Like it already felt pretty complete, but like when I replay it and when I think back about like Pharaoh's new varia and pharaohm, pharaohs in the varia are hubs, right? [SPEAKER_06]: A lot to do. [SPEAKER_06]: Pharaohm is not like the one. [SPEAKER_06]: Pharaohm is pretty much just going, get me our get out.

[SPEAKER_06]: That's pretty much it. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, there's nothing else to do there and there's very little to learn and you kill one crowing in a handful of gas, you know, it's, there's really not much going on. [SPEAKER_06]: You don't get a lot of lore, you don't get a lot of, uh, [SPEAKER_06]: background in a world building and immersion that we would have gotten with Calston.

[SPEAKER_06]: So yeah, I'm definitely going to check out that mod Calston restored now because even though the voice actors, like I don't think the lines were voiced, right? [SPEAKER_06]: They were just written. [SPEAKER_04]: I know some of them were voiced, especially for our squaddies and for Shepard.

[SPEAKER_04]: There's a lot of the voice lines. [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, okay. [SPEAKER_06]: Cool. [SPEAKER_06]: Cool. [SPEAKER_06]: All right. [SPEAKER_06]: Awesome. [SPEAKER_06]: Even more incentive to go check it out then. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, that man. [SPEAKER_06]: That's, um, [SPEAKER_06]: That's, it's so like, um, you know, you've got the organized crime, you've got the prostitutes, you've got love story, developing possible tragedy.

[SPEAKER_06]: This would have been like a really great, really great planet if it had been, if it had come to fruition the way that they were planning. [SPEAKER_04]: Now, how do you think Fox News would have responded if they found out that you could have [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, um, they would have demanded that by or we shut down immediately.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and then also somehow blamed Obama for it, even though it was 2007 in 2007, Obama, it's all your fault that we did not get prostitutes. [SPEAKER_04]: So, yeah, I mean, I can see why that this one might have been a little too controversial in order to keep it in there. [SPEAKER_04]: And if you cut out this whole subplot of the union in the cartel, having this prostitution ring of indentured servitude, slavery, trafficking, it might have been too dark for what they were trying to put from aspects.

[SPEAKER_06]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_06]: I don't think it's darker than some of the other things. [SPEAKER_06]: We explore and mass affect, you know, like the genophage. [SPEAKER_06]: It's pretty, pretty fucking dark. [SPEAKER_06]: You know, I mean, talking about stillborn children, I don't know if it gets darker than that.

[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: No, that's a very fair and valid point. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_06]: I think it's, I think it is a reflection of taboo, [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, because we would rather talk about, you know, fertility issues rather than sex work. [SPEAKER_06]: All right, we'd rather talk about horrific, you know, like, like the holocaust, like this was a holocaust on Crogan, the genophage, and we'd rather talk about that, and all of the horrible atrocities that come with it, and the degradation of Crogan social spheres as a result of it rather than talk about, you know, private parts.

[SPEAKER_04]: Shepard sleep in with hookers. [SPEAKER_06]: All right. [SPEAKER_06]: Well, I don't know if that is the reason that it was canned. [SPEAKER_06]: I mean, do you know for a fact? [SPEAKER_06]: Because I feel like it could have also been timetable. [SPEAKER_06]: Things just purely, you know, brass tax look.

[SPEAKER_06]: We don't have time to do this. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I don't think that there's ever been an official reason or response that has come out, but if you know the answer to that question, we'd love to talk to you about it. [SPEAKER_04]: So, who does up on the socials or our email? [SPEAKER_04]: We are always free and available.

[SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_06]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_06]: And that's a good segue because next week we're going to be talking with our patrons. [SPEAKER_06]: And I don't think that they've decided what we're going to talk about yet. [SPEAKER_06]: But I am very excited looking forward to it. [SPEAKER_06]: Planning to be not sick by then.

[SPEAKER_06]: So we'll see about that until then, Genesis, what do you got going on and how can people get to hold you? [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so I am on the interwebs and on Discord as Genesis with a J, you can also catch me on my two other podcasts that I do the two girls one ship podcast where we freely and openly talk about sex every single episode while we are talking about video game romances and the cyberpunk lore cast where sex doesn't come up as often, but it's definitely in the games so you can check out that show as well.

[SPEAKER_06]: right on. [SPEAKER_06]: And if you check out the two girls one ship specifically because they're talking about sex, don't be weird. [SPEAKER_06]: Just don't be weird, please. [SPEAKER_06]: I am, I don't, you know, I, [SPEAKER_06]: every week i say that i'm trying to find time to stream i don't even know if i can find time to stream right now because of course i've got you know my son i'm taking care of but we also just adopted a puppy uh german shepherd puppy who um need significant training uh [SPEAKER_06]: and I will leave it at that.

[SPEAKER_06]: And taking care of a baby and a puppy simultaneously is going to make me go bald when I don't have any such genetic trade, or a predisposition rather to go bald. [SPEAKER_06]: So, pray for me, but I will be here next week for the patron champ. [SPEAKER_06]: And yeah, [SPEAKER_06]: Thanks for listening to the Mass Effect War Test.

[SPEAKER_06]: Reach out to us on Blue Sky, Twitter, Discord, Patreon, or email us at Mass EffectLoreCast at gmail.com. [SPEAKER_04]: Join us next week for more lore, same space, same time. [SPEAKER_04]: Or check out our live streams at twitch.tv slash Mass Effect WarCast.

232: Mass Effect Was Supposed to Have Prostitutes

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