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 fund established human colonies in exchange for (Prothean) artifacts they find. Examples of artifacts are the pyramid and the Prothean video terminal, which has a video log about the collectors, on Joab and the Thorian on Feros.The suspicious part is that the Benefactor only said he knew a threat was coming, but he never mentioned the reapers specifically until Shepard's interaction with the Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime in 2183. It sounds as if he was on the verge of discovering the identity of the threat and that brings me back to E-corp. In the first Mass Effect, E-corp was doing research on the Thorian before Shepard arrived on Feros. The Thorian is an intelligent lifeform that holds the Cipher, a "mind thing" to understand the visions caused by Prothean beacons. However, before E-corp got their hands on the cipher Saren began to attack Feros to obtain this key. In the end the Thorian was killed which left E-corp with remnants. The company never got to understand the threat in the visions.ExoGeni has the money, experience in colonization, knowledge about the Protheans and an idea of the reapers probably before the events of ME1, so I think they should be considered as a Benefactor candidate as well. The reveal of the benefactor will probably turn into an orgasm or a big slap to the face 🙂Edit 1: The "evil" part in the title is because E-corp locked some humans in to be controlled by the Thorian. It was mentioned that Saren offers a sacrifice (an asari) for the Cipher, so maybe E-corp was doing the same.Edit 2: A comment I found on redditThe Benefactor is going to be a character we've never met or had limited involvement with. He's going to be pro human. I feel like he might be a high placed executive in ExoGeni Corporation.No timing was given as to exactly when the benefactor became involved but he/they definitely did so once the project was well under way. The timing and knowledge base matches. The other thing to consider is that the organizational structure of the Initiative has some feel of an interstellar corporation circa ME:1.Here's an excerpt from the wiki about Exogeni:ExoGeni Corporation is an interstellar company specialising in planetary exploration and colonisation. In addition to funding the establishment of several human colonies, ExoGeni has incidentally secured resource rights to worlds that may have undiscovered resources or remnants of alien technology, such as their newest colony on Feros. Commander Shepard can view the company's mission statement from the ExoGeni VI in the main headquarters there, or from Ethan Jeong.ExoGeni, wryly described by Juliana Baynham as being a genius at "repurposing anything and everything," founded the Zhu's Hope settlement on Feros. The company provided funding for the colony; in return, the settlers handed over any valuable finds from the Prothean ruins. It converted one of the ancient towers above the Skyway into a base of operations, using Zhu's Hope as a port and housing most of the researchers closer to the labs.Think about it. Knowledge of the Prothean, knowledge of the Reapers, experience from dealing with the Thorian. Also, extensive colonization experience and pro human but not exclusively human. Motive to kill off the leadership for their own purposes.Anywho, food for thought.E-corp... I've probably watched too much MrRobot 😉

Considering that corporate accounting would find the budget for a planet or two missing, I doubt it's 'just' a businessman or executive. You need Howard Hughes level of crazy businessman to run this. I find this highly unlikely.

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.

@fudgietroll wrote:Personally, I would rank Benefactor possibilities by tier groups with Tier 1 being most likelyTier 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.

Am still of the opinion that the Benefactor is currently at andromeda, which means this person should not appear in ME3. So TIM, Aria, Shaira, Elkoss corp, Ashland corp(saw the bosses of these 2 corporates in ME3), yahg shadow broker, will not be my picks. Under the unlikely umbrella would be terra firma(pro-human terrorist group that's considered more extreme than Cerberus), dont think the non-council species could pull this off and dont think the turians or salarians would do this... I am hoping for someone new. Looking at past trends, think it will be human, but I am hoping for an Asari matriarch... The whole getting different races working together fits the Asari philosophy.As for SAM, I have argued this with someone else in another thread and do not wish to continue with it so will just state my views on this. At the stage of planning the andromeda initiative(which cant happen overnight) in my estimation and I have no proof of this so it's based on logical personal estimation, the planning should have taken place many years back, so SAM probably isnt invented at that stage. Even if the timelines are off, Alec ryder was broke and needed the Andromeda initiative to fund his research on SAM that's why he join them, if SAM is somewhat self aware and could amass fleets and fortunes, why not send some to alec to complete himself? Seems like an over complication of the story line(it's like having hands but someone using his toes to scratch his head), I will be disappointed if bioware uses SAM as the benefactor.

@VladVonCastein wrote:There is this really confusing note that could be found in the kett temple addressing the benefactor or a benefactor which suggest that this "benefactor" is doing well in EOS. Let me look for it and I will post it here again below... Could be The Benefactor of the Andromeda Initiative but some speculate its another kett that is a benefactor to the person who wrote the note. confusing as hell and in my opinion if it's not The Benefactor being addressed, then Bioware writers really did a poor job. It's like calling someone sneaky Mr Illusive when there's already an illusive man in the series. Talking about clones, am still wondering if Shep's clone survived the fall lol. Though unlikely, I sure wouldnt mind a clone of the illusive man though, especially if it's still voiced by Martin Sheen.Agreed on the Asari, some do seem a little elitist. If you played the citadel DLC, those 2 Asari in the casino fits the bill, but well cant generalise an entire population based on those 2 I guess lol. Well they do have something in common with the Hannar... They both worship the Protheans lol! Ok back to the benefactor. What you mentioned about the Asari does fit the bill of the benefactor's MO as well. Yeah, unless this is the Benefactor or Bioware just trying to screw with our heads, they should break out the old thesaurus and change that note in one of the patches.Honestly, I had forgotten those 2 asari airheads. I was focusing on Shep's running issues with the Asari Councilor, the Matriarchs' decision to go fiddle while the Galaxy burned, and the fact that they wanted to put a hit on Liara (and I'm not counting Aethyta with the other Matriarchs because she's too cool), not to mention the huge stash of Prothean tech and warnings they didn't share, or heed.Oooh! SAM joke! What is the difference between an Asari Matriarch and a Hanar?Spoiler (Highlight to read)The Hanar has more backbone!:eahigh_file:The Hanar has more backbone!:eahigh_file:

Evil Corporations the Benefactor?

41 Replies

arthurh3535
9 years ago
Considering that corporate accounting would find the budget for a planet or two missing, I doubt it's 'just' a businessman or executive. You need Howard Hughes level of crazy businessman to run this.
I find this highly unlikely.
chrissyce1123
9 years ago
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.
Tuinbonen
9 years ago
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
fudgietroll
9 years ago
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.
arthurh3535
9 years ago
@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.
fudgietroll
9 years ago
@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🤨
VladVonCastein
9 years ago
Am still of the opinion that the Benefactor is currently at andromeda, which means this person should not appear in ME3. So TIM, Aria, Shaira, Elkoss corp, Ashland corp(saw the bosses of these 2 corporates in ME3), yahg shadow broker, will not be my picks. Under the unlikely umbrella would be terra firma(pro-human terrorist group that's considered more extreme than Cerberus), dont think the non-council species could pull this off and dont think the turians or salarians would do this... I am hoping for someone new. Looking at past trends, think it will be human, but I am hoping for an Asari matriarch... The whole getting different races working together fits the Asari philosophy.
As for SAM, I have argued this with someone else in another thread and do not wish to continue with it so will just state my views on this. At the stage of planning the andromeda initiative(which cant happen overnight) in my estimation and I have no proof of this so it's based on logical personal estimation, the planning should have taken place many years back, so SAM probably isnt invented at that stage. Even if the timelines are off, Alec ryder was broke and needed the Andromeda initiative to fund his research on SAM that's why he join them, if SAM is somewhat self aware and could amass fleets and fortunes, why not send some to alec to complete himself? Seems like an over complication of the story line(it's like having hands but someone using his toes to scratch his head), I will be disappointed if bioware uses SAM as the benefactor.
fudgietroll
9 years ago
@VladVonCastein wrote:
Am still of the opinion that the Benefactor is currently at andromeda, which means this person should not appear in ME3. So TIM, Aria, Shaira, Elkoss corp, Ashland corp(saw the bosses of these 2 corporates in ME3), yahg shadow broker, will not be my picks. Under the unlikely umbrella would be terra firma(pro-human terrorist group that's considered more extreme than Cerberus), dont think the non-council species could pull this off and dont think the turians or salarians would do this... I am hoping for someone new. Looking at past trends, think it will be human, but I am hoping for an Asari matriarch... The whole getting different races working together fits the Asari philosophy.
As for SAM, I have argued this with someone else in another thread and do not wish to continue with it so will just state my views on this. At the stage of planning the andromeda initiative(which cant happen overnight) in my estimation and I have no proof of this so it's based on logical personal estimation, the planning should have taken place many years back, so SAM probably isnt invented at that stage. Even if the timelines are off, Alec ryder was broke and needed the Andromeda initiative to fund his research on SAM that's why he join them, if SAM is somewhat self aware and could amass fleets and fortunes, why not send some to alec to complete himself? Seems like an over complication of the story line(it's like having hands but someone using his toes to scratch his head), I will be disappointed if bioware uses SAM as the benefactor.
I kind of like the idea that the Benefactor, or at least 1 or more of the groups mentioned, is still en route, because that opens up a bunch more story options🥳, but if you just want individuals that could be in Andromeda at the start of ME:A that's fair. After all it's at least 85% probable that Jien was killed by the Benefactor or minions.
There has been some speculation that a TIM clone is involved in the Benefactor program, and if that is true he (TIM or clone) could be in Andromeda from the start.
Similarly, Shiira could have sent an acolyte back to the Citadel under her identity, or if she were a Thorian thrall she could have had a Thorian clone return in her place. Either way she could also be in Andromeda from the start.
Liara killed the Yahg Shadow Broker, so if a Shadow Broker is involved it would have to be the ~~Yahgfather~~ 👿 previous Shadow Broker Liara assumed was dead. And they could be anywhere.
Henry Lawson was in ME3 too, but he would probably have sent a clone-daughter instead to secure his genetic destiny (you really think he stopped with the two missing ones, unless he needed Miranda/Oriana to be the perfect womb for his perfect progeny?😮☹️)
Terra Firma is a completely legal political party with strong pro-human views that Shep can endorse, oppose, and, if a spacer, promise to vote for. If they are in any way connected to Cerberus it is the sort of relationship exemplified by Sinn Fein and the IRA.🤐
I personally am with you on not having SAM as the Benefactor. Its a bit of a stretch, and there are more interesting options.
Maybe the Asari Leadership (not counting Aethyta) have always rubbed me the wrong way, but their actual philosophy seems more like the Asari are in charge but we'll let the other races pretend otherwise. (I may have felt a little but of vengeful justice when the Reapers hit Thessia, see where leaving everyone to die gets you Jerks!😬)
VladVonCastein
9 years ago
@fudgietroll wrote:
I kind of like the idea that the Benefactor, or at least 1 or more of the groups mentioned, is still en route, because that opens up a bunch more story options🥳, but if you just want individuals that could be in Andromeda at the start of ME:A that's fair. After all it's at least 85% probable that Jien was killed by the Benefactor or minions.
There has been some speculation that a TIM clone is involved in the Benefactor program, and if that is true he (TIM or clone) could be in Andromeda from the start.
Similarly, Shiira could have sent an acolyte back to the Citadel under her identity, or if she were a Thorian thrall she could have had a Thorian clone return in her place. Either way she could also be in Andromeda from the start.
Liara killed the Yahg Shadow Broker, so if a Shadow Broker is involved it would have to be the ~~Yahgfather~~ 👿 previous Shadow Broker Liara assumed was dead. And they could be anywhere.
Henry Lawson was in ME3 too, but he would probably have sent a clone-daughter instead to secure his genetic destiny (you really think he stopped with the two missing ones, unless he needed Miranda/Oriana to be the perfect womb for his perfect progeny?😮☹️)
Terra Firma is a completely legal political party with strong pro-human views that Shep can endorse, oppose, and, if a spacer, promise to vote for. If they are in any way connected to Cerberus it is the sort of relationship exemplified by Sinn Fein and the IRA.🤐
I personally am with you on not having SAM as the Benefactor. Its a bit of a stretch, and there are more interesting options.
Maybe the Asari Leadership (not counting Aethyta) have always rubbed me the wrong way, but their actual philosophy seems more like the Asari are in charge but we'll let the other races pretend otherwise. (I may have felt a little but of vengeful justice when the Reapers hit Thessia, see where leaving everyone to die gets you Jerks!😬)
There is this really confusing note that could be found in the kett temple addressing the benefactor or a benefactor which suggest that this "benefactor" is doing well in EOS. Let me look for it and I will post it here again below... Could be The Benefactor of the Andromeda Initiative but some speculate its another kett that is a benefactor to the person who wrote the note. confusing as hell and in my opinion if it's not The Benefactor being addressed, then Bioware writers really did a poor job. It's like calling someone sneaky Mr Illusive when there's already an illusive man in the series. Talking about clones, am still wondering if Shep's clone survived the fall lol. Though unlikely, I sure wouldnt mind a clone of the illusive man though, especially if it's still voiced by Martin Sheen.
Agreed on the Asari, some do seem a little elitist. If you played the citadel DLC, those 2 Asari in the casino fits the bill, but well cant generalise an entire population based on those 2 I guess lol. Well they do have something in common with the Hannar... They both worship the Protheans lol! Ok back to the benefactor. What you mentioned about the Asari does fit the bill of the benefactor's MO as well.
arthurh3535
9 years ago
I'm like 99.9999999% sure that's a Kett leader that the subordinate is referring to there, thanking him for getting a cool posting.