

When exiting the docking bay elevator, you will receive a request to help a fellow survivor of Mindoir, who was taken by slavers during the raid on Mindoir when you were sixteen. Colonist characters also have a unique mission.You were saved by a passing Alliance patrol, and you enlisted with the military a few years later. When you were sixteen slavers raided Mindoir, slaughtering your family and friends. Colonist: You were born and raised on Mindoir, a small border colony in the Attican Traverse.Shepard is asked to help free a member of the gang from a turian in the bar. A member of a gang Shepard belonged to in youth will approach Shepard outside Chora's Den in the Citadel Wards. Earthborn characters also have a unique assignment.You escaped the life of petty crime and underworld gangs by enlisting with the Alliance military when you turned eighteen. Earthborn: You were an orphan raised on the streets of the great megatropolises covering Earth.(In both of the other backgrounds, Shepard's parents are deceased or otherwise absent.) Spacer characters can have a short conversation with Hannah Shepard, the PC's mother, through an assignment that is only available with this background.Following in your parents' footsteps, you enlisted at the age of eighteen.

Your childhood was spent on ships and stations as they transferred from posting to posting, never staying in one location for more than a few years. Spacer: Both of your parents were in the Alliance military.Some assignments in the game are only available to those who selected a particular pre-service history. This choice affects how others talk about the main character and, in combination with the psychological profile, determines how many bonus Paragon and Renegade points the Commander has at the start of the game.

The player then selects Shepard's pre-service history, by choosing Spacer, Earthborn, or Colonist. See also: Codex/Personal History Summary Pre-Service History The names for the preset character models are either John Shepard for male, or Jane Shepard for the female, though only the first names may be customized and not the actual model.

When creating a custom character, the player can choose to play as a male or female Shepard. The process starts with the player either selecting a preset character or creating a custom character. Profile Reconstruction is the character creation system of Mass Effect.
