Cerberus

Cerberus was a clandestine, human-supremacist paramilitary organization led by the enigmatic Illusive Man. Presenting itself as human-survivalist, Cerberus held that humanity deserved a far greater role in the galactic community and that the Systems Alliance was too constrained by law and public opinion to stand up to the other Citadel races. The organization endorsed any method that might advance humanity's ascension, including illegal experimentation, terrorism, sabotage, and assassination, and both the Alliance and the Citadel Council declared it a terrorist organization. Cerberus would later resurrect Commander Shepard, pursue control over the Reapers, and bring about its own destruction.

Origins#

Cerberus arose from the turmoil of the First Contact War in 2157, humanity's first conflict with another species, the turians. During the turian occupation of Shanxi, a trio of human mercenaries, Jack Harper, Eva Core, and Ben Hislop, fought alongside Alliance forces under General Williams. After capturing a turian general, they became entangled in his conspiracy to use an ancient alien artifact to transform the turians into invincible supersoldiers under his command. With the aid of the general's brother, Saren Arterius, Harper foiled the plot, though both Core and Hislop were lost.

In the aftermath, Harper concluded that the galaxy, though abundant in knowledge and wealth, was a dangerous place and that a dark time was coming for humanity. He resolved to do everything in his power to secure humanity's place among the stars, published the manifesto of Cerberus, and assumed the identity of the Illusive Man.

Expansion and early operations#

As Cerberus grew, it shaped human development through sabotage, assassination, media manipulation, and espionage. It became publicly known after a failed 2165 attempt to steal antimatter from the cruiser SSV Geneva, when the sole surviving operative named his sponsor as Cerberus and the resulting publicity spurred recruitment. In 2170 the organization engineered the Eldfell-Ashland Energy accident over Yandoa, exposing colonists to dust-form element zero. It was implicated in a string of political killings, including the assassinations of religious and political figures whose successors held views more favorable to militarizing humanity.

The organization was divided into numerous independent cells, each led by an operative reporting directly to the Illusive Man and kept ignorant of the others, so that the compromise of one cell would not endanger the rest. As of 2185, Cerberus reportedly consisted of around 150 operatives organized into three cells, with the Illusive Man personally overseeing every project. It funded itself through wealthy sympathizers within the Alliance military-industrial complex and a network of front corporations, drawing several billion credits per year.

The Lazarus Project and the Collectors#

After the first Normandy was destroyed and Commander Shepard killed, Cerberus recovered Shepard's body, recognizing the Commander's leadership and symbolic value. The Illusive Man commissioned the Lazarus Project, led by the operative Miranda Lawson, which spent two years and over four billion credits to revive Shepard, insisting that no mind control be used for fear of altering Shepard's personality. The project nearly failed when a mole named Wilson hacked its security mechs, but Shepard's timely revival allowed the Commander, Miranda, and the operative Jacob Taylor to escape.

A separate cell built a more advanced Normandy, the SR-2, drawing on schematics Cerberus had retained from co-developing the original with the turians and on the artificial intelligence EDI. The Illusive Man then directed Shepard to investigate the disappearance of human colonies, which proved to be the work of the Collectors. Shepard assembled a largely non-human team and ultimately struck at the Collector Base beyond the Omega 4 Relay. Whether the base was destroyed or preserved depended on Shepard's decisions, and the operation's success briefly elevated Cerberus's reputation as a competent protector of humanity.

Human experimentation#

Cerberus pursued ruthless research throughout its history. At the Teltin Facility on Pragia, a project sought to increase human biotic potential through experiments on child subjects kidnapped from poor families or bought from batarian slavers, employing torture and forced combat; the operative Jack was among its subjects, and the project ended only after the children rioted. Project Overlord on the planet Aite attempted to control the geth through a hybrid VI, driving the autistic savant David Archer insane after his brother connected him to the interface. Other efforts experimented with rachni, with Reaper technology recovered beyond the Omega 4 Relay, and at the Barn space station, where operatives were subjected to indoctrinating implants. Cerberus consistently disavowed its most monstrous work as the actions of rogue cells.

The Reaper War and downfall#

By the Reaper invasion of 2186, Cerberus had undergone a dramatic transformation. Rather than merely stopping the Reapers, the Illusive Man intended to seize control of them and make humanity dominant. Experiments with Reaper technology let the organization indoctrinate civilians and convert them into husk-like troops that retained the mental capacity to perform their roles while remaining absolutely loyal, swelling Cerberus's army even as its growing anti-alien extremism turned the public against it.

In the war's opening days, the infiltration android Eva Core led a Cerberus assault on the Prothean archive on Mars to seize data for the Crucible superweapon, but Shepard prevented her escape and recovered the data. Cerberus then opposed Shepard's efforts to unite the krogan and turians, attempted a coup against the Citadel Council with the aid of Councilor Udina, and on Thessia the assassin Kai Leng stole a Prothean VI vital to completing the Crucible. Following Kai Leng's trail led Shepard to the Sanctuary facility on Horizon and finally to Cerberus headquarters at Cronos Station, which the Alliance's Fifth Fleet assaulted. Inside, Shepard recovered the Prothean VI and killed Kai Leng, effectively destroying the organization. The Illusive Man had already fled to the Citadel, and in a final confrontation during the battle for Earth, Shepard ended him, bringing Cerberus to its end.