Arine Leoptos

"My homeworld was isolated from the other Republics for centuries. When they finally bothered to check up on us, our grandmothers took to the skies to fight off what appeared to be an invading force. And for that, Imeria was punished with sanctions that continue to this day. Everyone claims the Republics are so fair because any asari with an Extranet connection can have a say in government. But the thing is, most of those stuck on Imeria can't afford an Extranet connection. Does that seem fair to you?"

- Arine Leoptos, to Emmanuelle Sharon

Arine Leoptos was an asari operative in the Livis Company private army. In 2181 CE, she and operatives Mirole T'Shar and Thedala Visin accompanied Cmdr. Emmanuelle Sharon to the city of Nairida to locate their fellow operative, Siani T'Nair, who was besieged by batarian troopers. After they met up with T'Nair, Leoptos, Visin, and T'Shar took up defensive positions to try and clear the way so that Sharon could escort T'Nair back to the Livis camp. However, all three women were ambushed by the batarians, and were tortured and killed.

History
Born on Imeria, one of the oldest and poorest of the Asari Republics, Arine Leoptos was raised with a chip on her shoulder, having watched as her homeworld was crippled by sanctions intended to punish the Imerians for a failed rebellion that only the oldest Matriarchs still remembered (and which, Imerians have long contended, was largely the fault of the Republics themselves, which had quarantined Imeria for centuries to prevent the spread of hostile lirrax raiders who had invaded it.) The Leoptos family had a particularly subversive tradition; its ancestors had been staunchly loyal to the Nahir royal family that ruled Imeria during the centuries of quarantine, and when Nahir descendent Meddianta T'Nair founded the city of Nairida on what was then the asari world Nomimos, Arine's grandmother followed and stayed by T'Nair's side until an unexpected pregnancy forced her to return home.

When Arine came of age, she reluctantly left Imeria for Illium in order to find work, dropping her distinctive accent and working to pass herself off as a refugee from Esan, which had been annexed by the Batarian Hegemony. After spending several years barely avoiding poverty, she finally found work with the Livis Company, a private contractor that served as a legitimate front for the mercenary group called Eclipse.

As a hired gun, Arine showed great skill, and this, combined with her ruthlessness, saw her rise up. Her superiors expected that one day, she would become the equivalent of a major or a general. Her ruthless nature was tempered, however, when she met Siani Dantius, a supposed Imerian immigrant who'd been employed as a tech, and who possessed an alarmingly intuitive understanding of computer, but a less impressive understanding of other people. Arine quickly discovered that Siani was Imerian by birth only - she'd spent almost her entire life on Illium - but nonetheless, she began to look out for the younger, more awkward girl.

And so it was that the two found themselves as part of a mission to Nomimos, which had been annexed by the Batarian Hegemony and renamed Zak'kon, there to rescue asari protestors from a Hegemony crackdown. The situation fell apart before they even arrived; their intel had greatly underestimated the number of hostiles they were facing, and they and the protestors were forced to retreat to the garrison town of Chaxes.

After several confused skirmishes between the batarians and the Livis mercenaries, Siani discovered that the batarian forces were also suffering from bad intel; someone was deliberately manipulating both factions to ensure that they kept fighting. In her search for answers, she discovered that there was a massive transmitter on a nearby island. Though Arine vigorously protested, Siani set off on her own to find the island.

Several days later, Emmanuelle Sharon and James Skinner, both commanders on suspension from the Systems Alliance Navy, arrived at Chaxes, searching for Siani. Initially, Arine believed that they intended to harm her, but after some confusion, she learned that they'd been sent to take her back to her mother, the Matriarch Eumenia. Though somewhat surprised to learn that Siani was the daughter of one of the most powerful women on Illium, Arine agreed to help them.

After consulting with her superiors, Arine and Cmdr. Sharon formed a small search party, consisting of themselves, Mirole T'Shar and Thedala Visin, and a handful of others. Setting out by sea in order to rely on traditional navigational methods instead of more potentially false intel, their course was dangerous, and only Sharon, Arine, Thedala, and Mirole made it to the island.

Several years later, Siani, now the CEO of the Nairida Corporation, paid tribute to the sacrifice of her three fallen comerades by naming the company's first three ships after them. The NCSV Arine became her own personal ship, and was captained by Emmanuelle Sharon after she retired from the Systems Alliance Navy.

Behind the scenes

 * In the formal novel version of Mass Effect: Manipulation, Arine is named Maireda Cloike, a name that intentionally plays up her difference from other asari.