Editing Inara "Iradea" Lytta (section)

== Background ==
Asari mercenary Inara Lytta, better known under the nom de guerre of Iradea, has a reputation that precedes her. The rebellious daughter of a famous Turian general, she embraced the combat and weapons part of her heritage, but did not mesh too well with such concepts as "discipline" or "public responsibility". Instead, she fled home at an early age and signed up with a ragtag crew of mercenaries, hoping to make a name for herself in the Terminus Systems. The crew soon died, but she survived. Over the next few decades, Inara continued to find work in meaner part of the galaxy, sometimes joining larger groups and sometimes striking out on her own. She reveled in violence and alcohol, had casual sex and casual firefights with about a dozen different species on a hundred different planets, and barely gave any thought to her future past her next payday.

There wasn't any one event that changed her, or if there was, she never saw fit to mention it. But over time, she started to grow weary of this fast life of stupid risks and senseless slaughter. After a period of soul-searching that she refuses to talk much about, but that apparently involved both reconciling with the remaining members of her family and developing an interest in the traditional religious beliefs of both her peoples, she decided to come back to mercenary work. Inara had become much more composed and focused in those years, however. She acted with a new sense of purpose and professionalism, and worked in small, elite groups that held themselves to a certain code of ethics. And from now on, she called herself Iradea.

To this day, Iradea has the reputation of a maverick, only partly due to the events of her youth. It is not wholly undeserved, either; she would be the first to admit that she lives for war, does not work for any governments and only respects those who earned it in her eyes. At the same time, her reputation for coldblooded ruthlessness and recklessness is almost certainly exaggerated. Iradea is nothing if not thoroughly professional, and her long experience – she is past 200 and has made a much more exciting use of her years than most Space Age Asari Maidens do – makes her a seasoned veteran, if also something of a monomaniac with limited understanding of civilian life. Her arrogance and standoffishness is offset by the understanding that good team dynamics are crucial for small mercenary outfits.

In spite of her aforementioned distrust of governments, some recent events have caused her to reconsider this stance. Iradea has kept an ear to the ground, and was profoundly disturbed by the growing Geth incursions, the Battle of the Citadel, and finally, the Collector affair – limited as the information that she has been able to get on that last one was. At the same time, competition in the Terminus Systems, though never friendly, has become increasingly rough and intense. And there was something else, too, beneath the surface – a sense of starting to lose her edge and wanting to make a bigger difference before she dies…

Long story short, by the time the Asari councilor (perhaps informed of her strong business ethics, or maybe seeking somebody with enough plausible deniability if things went wrong) contacted her, half-expecting the mercenary to disconnect on her in mid-sentence, Iradea was ready to say “yes”.