Evil Corporations the Benefactor?
Besides TIM, the Consort and the shadowbroker, has anyone mentioned Exogeni Corporations (E-corp for future references)? It's a company that specializes in exploration and colonisation. They help fun...
Forum Discussion
I think your logic is sound but I think more than just one person would have to be involved as the benefactor for it to work. I don't think the benefactor is pro human. Jien and Alex both started feeling too nervous about the benefactor. Hopefully we will get more info with the dlc.
I'm too brain dead to think but you should add geth to your list of possibles. Also anyone connected to the Collectors.
I don't think it's just an executive either as that comment on reddit mentioned. It's the whole company that's "shady". They started doing unwanted experiments on humans, turning them into Thorian thralls and hired the Blue Suns to smuggle artifacts from Joab.
@arthurh3535 A volus like Barla Von can always hide transactions as "charity", within legal boundaries 🙂
Edit: Just found out from a terminal that Cerberus was interested in the samples from ExoGeni on Feros
Personally, I would rank Benefactor possibilities by tier groups with Tier 1 being most likely
Tier 1: Aria, The Consort, Cerberus, one of the Shadow Brokers (Liara killed one, but they may have been doing Dread Pirate Roberts changeovers prior to this, and a retired Shadow Broker could still operate under Liara's radar). These individuals/groups have the level of resources, influence, covert ops/intel capacities, and plausible ability to figure out the Reapers are coming a long way off to make them highly likely candidates to be the real drive behind the Andromeda Initiative. Plus, they are generally interesting in their own right.
Tier 2: Matriarch Aethyta (Liara's Dad), A "friendly" AI (possibly SAM), Noveria, ExoGeni, Saren/Benezia. These individuals/groups DO NOT have at least one of: the level of resources, influence, covert ops/intel capacities, and plausible ability to figure out the Reapers are coming a long way off to make them highly likely candidates to be the real drive behind the Andromeda Initiative. Plus, some of them are dead, and corporations can't make a profit from a colony they can't reach.
Tier 3: Government entities from the Council, species governments, independent nations, or the Geth Collective/breakaway groups. They are likely to have the capacity to pull this off, but no real probable motivation. Although it would explain Tann and Addison and why someone might want to take out the Initiative leadership.
Tier 4: The Dantius Family, Henry Lawson, The Krogans behind the 3 recent successful pushes to beat the Genophage, some of Mordin's old teammates, Morith. They have a lot of resources, though not on the scale of the other tiers, and little plausible motivation.
@fudgietroll wrote:Personally, I would rank Benefactor possibilities by tier groups with Tier 1 being most likely
Tier 1: Aria, The Consort, Cerberus, one of the Shadow Brokers (Liara killed one, but they may have been doing Dread Pirate Roberts changeovers prior to this, and a retired Shadow Broker could still operate under Liara's radar). These individuals/groups have the level of resources, influence, covert ops/intel capacities, and plausible ability to figure out the Reapers are coming a long way off to make them highly likely candidates to be the real drive behind the Andromeda Initiative. Plus, they are generally interesting in their own right.
I'm trying to understand why you think Aria (over glorified mercenary and/or owner of a city-state), the Consort (an influential politician/geisha/mistress), the Shadow Broker (a criminal information broker with a relatively small group of mercenaries) has these sort of resources.
NONE of these people have the resources to build six mega-dreadnoughts. The Nexus probably out masses six Destiny-class dreadnoughts. Which is the crown jewel of the Asari federation to the Citadel Council. They may be unarmed, but they have prototype technology technology which probably makes them cost more than a dreadnought. Aria would not have that sort of disposable income (and, since she's in ME3, not part of MEA). If she had that much money, I'm sure she'd build a few dreadnoughts and more than a few dozen cruisers to become a true polity.
The Shadowbroker is technically someone that could have that much resources, but strikes me as the sort that has his resources tied up mostly in his business dealings.
@arthurh3535 wrote:
@fudgietroll wrote:Personally, I would rank Benefactor possibilities by tier groups with Tier 1 being most likely
Tier 1: Aria, The Consort, Cerberus, one of the Shadow Brokers (Liara killed one, but they may have been doing Dread Pirate Roberts changeovers prior to this, and a retired Shadow Broker could still operate under Liara's radar). These individuals/groups have the level of resources, influence, covert ops/intel capacities, and plausible ability to figure out the Reapers are coming a long way off to make them highly likely candidates to be the real drive behind the Andromeda Initiative. Plus, they are generally interesting in their own right.
I'm trying to understand why you think Aria (over glorified mercenary and/or owner of a city-state), the Consort (an influential politician/geisha/mistress), the Shadow Broker (a criminal information broker with a relatively small group of mercenaries) has these sort of resources.
NONE of these people have the resources to build six mega-dreadnoughts. The Nexus probably out masses six Destiny-class dreadnoughts. Which is the crown jewel of the Asari federation to the Citadel Council. They may be unarmed, but they have prototype technology technology which probably makes them cost more than a dreadnought. Aria would not have that sort of disposable income (and, since she's in ME3, not part of MEA). If she had that much money, I'm sure she'd build a few dreadnoughts and more than a few dozen cruisers to become a true polity.
The Shadowbroker is technically someone that could have that much resources, but strikes me as the sort that has his resources tied up mostly in his business dealings.
You're kidding right?
The Shadow Broker owns Spectres, topples governments, controls high-ranking leaders, and has the ability to start all-out galactic war at a whim. Plus, while he may not have had a huge army on his ship, but he could come up with a dozen or so squads of troops on Illium alone at the drop of a hat. He was tapped into top secret research bases, received intel from everywhere, was continuously receiving shipments of rare materials, had access to huge amounts of credits, and knew the Reapers were coming.
Aria has the freaking Asari Councilor on speed dial to do Aria's bidding, when Shep can't even get her to show up to a meeting. She has a wide ranging intelligence network, huge resource reserves, the kind of cash that lets her buy a fleet quickly in the middle of a major war, enough troops to make a frontal assault on the second largest Cerberus fortress feasible, plenty of secret places to build arks, and a belief in second chances. Not to mention that she has massive control of the Terminus before she stomps Cerberus and takes over the major merc organizations, after which her power is near total. Admittedly, if we assume the Benefactor was on one of the six MW vessels in Andromeda she becomes unlikely, although she could potentially be on the Quarian ark, a second wave Initiative vessel, or her own custom ark, as long as she leaves before Shep hits Earth so EA doesn't have to pick an end. Personally, I think it would be funny if she secretly turned Omega into an ark.:eahigh_file:😉
The Consort has been gathering money, influence, power, and secrets for decades, if not centuries. She has been openly training her own organization for quite some time and advises many of the top leaders on the Citadel, as well as knowing things are coming and using her knowledge/oracle powers to help Shep. She leaves the Citadel while the Nexus and first 4-5 arks are being launched (since we don't know when the Quarians left) and was (probably) back on the Citadel for part of ME3. Shep meets her, or imposter her, at the casino during the Citadel DLC, but again she could potentially be on the Quarian ark, a second wave Initiative vessel, or her own custom ark, as long as she leaves before Shep hits Earth so EA doesn't have to pick an end.
Conspiracy Theory: the Consort is either a Thorian clone or an Indoctrinated Thorian slave tied to it, which is the source of her "oracles", and provides the Thorian with knowledge and influence on the galaxy. As an extra precaution against the Reapers, once the Initiative is proven feasible the Consort becomes the Benefactor, to ensure part of the Thorian gets transported to another Galaxy and survives🤨
