Art by  feranta !

This is Varus Heron. Male, turian, age 49 Standard. Nothing overly special about that. And yet, Varus is an oddity. Not because of his background, or his looks, or even his loyalty. Rather, what is interesting is his occupation. From a society that values honor, that espouses civil service as a virtue, from a culture steeped in ideas of personal ethics and owning up to ones actions at all times, be they good or bad, from a civilization with a long and glorious military tradition dating back centuries, Varus is...

A spy.

Those familiar with turian culture will understand why this is something of an anomaly. For those who aren't; do you remember those turians with the face paints? Those are colony markings. Symbols representing where a turian was born. Those without them are called "barefaced", and are looked down upon in turian society as untrustworthy. Imagine then, if you will, a turian who not only discarded his own facial tattoos, but wears temporary versions of other colonies as part of his job.

He was trained in typical small arms and combat tactics, along with demolitions, piloting, and a myriad of other military uses, all slated to be used in subtle, small ways. He also learned diplomacy, several languages without the aid of universal translators, martial arts, xenosocial and biological classes, etc. If all that sounds like something a Spectre would learn, or should learn, you would be correct; the Hierarchy re-used a lot of what they did know while they tried desperately to make up what they didn't. Eventually they ended up trying to discretely ask the salarians for help. The STG knew about their plans when they were asked. They went along with it anyway because the idea of a turian spy amused some high-ranking official or dalatress.

Ultimately, the Hierarchy went with this choice because they wanted an agent of their own. Spectres, while often times still loyal to their parent organization or species, ultimately reported to the Citadel council. And as such, served the Council's will. And the Hierarchy didn't always want to use the Council to solve its problems. Sometimes something would come up that required a slightly more... Familiar touch.

Later in his career, as the Hierarchy and Systems Alliance grew closer together between the Normandy project and the Battle of the Citadel, Varus had the opportunity to talk with other spy members, from asari, salarian, and human agencies. One of the humans at the little conference heard of his training and laughed.

"Should I just call you Mister Bond then?" He joked. Varus, of course, had no idea who James Bond was, but decided to go investigate after the conference.

These days, Varus operates several cover identities. James Bond is a wealthy industrialist from Earth, for example, whom Varus acts as an "agent" for under a variety of pseudonyms. Jason Bourne is a freelance wetwork operative nobody has yet met in person. SPECTRE 1 is the alias of an extranet hacker and information broker, whom Varus on several occasions fronted for. George Smiley is not the turians given name, obviously, but as a freelance analyst and "risk management specialist", he has a couple of big names under his belt.

Officially, Varus Heron died in a training accident when he was 20. The young private threw himself on a demo charge when the fuse was accidentally triggered, saving his squad at the cost of his own life. A fitting, noble end, but one that was small enough to pass under the radar. That being said, there are advantages to using a dead man's name, and Varus often introduces himself by such. Most of his unknowing contacts, if they go digging, assume it's an alias. It amuses the spy.

Varus himself is suave, debonair, affable, even quite friendly, and almost never surprised. He's also a cold-hearted killer, not afraid to get his hands dirty if needs must, and never doubts the necessity of his work. There's an argument to be made that he is more of a patriot than most, having been willing to give up so much to serve the Hierarchy. When he's on duty, he is whatever he needs to be for the situation at hand.

When he's off duty, well... He has a bit of a love affair with drinks of all sorts, but his favorites are fruity, flavorful ones. He unironically enjoys turian marching music, and often listens to it when he's performing technical or clerical duties. He isn't above using his charm and charisma to leverage items, deals, or relations to his favor. He has seduced his way to his objective on more than one occasion. He has a weakness for small fluffy animals, a flair for the dramatic, and has entertained ideas of becoming an actor when he retires. If he retires.

He always dresses impeccably, favoring well tailored suits in a dark, almost black, green when he can get away with it. Green being his favorite color. Luxury items are always a must, and he knows when he's being shown something of real value, and something that is just -supposed- to have real value.

He only has two implants. One is his omni-tool, which is a powerful but discrete model that can be rendered invisible to most scanners, at the cost of shutting it down; the system has to boot itself back up within a certain time frame, as there are no "external" controls for the tool at all. His other implant, or implants, are his eyes. High quality models, with a wide range of vision modes and recording features, along with several others that enhance his ability to change personas quickly. Without any flash, they can appear completely normal. But, when the opportunity arises, Varus is happy to make them obvious. Glowing colors, cycling patterns, and so on.

In short, he's a Bond. Turian Bond. A hit with the ladies when he turns on the charm, but he doesn't discriminate. Why? Because it's the late 2100's, and everyone should be over that shit. Except the xenophilia. That, the Hierarchy just sort of... Skips over. Focus on the results, Executor. Not the details on how squishy human females (and males) are. I mean really, Varus. Really? Was that entirely necessary?