Untitled

hmmm….no I think he was basically bodhi rook pre-joining the rebels

Commercial cargo pilot. No, really. Flew transport for private companies, specialising in extremely valuable cargo: luxury goods, high-grade weapons, barely-legal tech. The sort of stuff that makes one cargo ship about as valuable as the total GDP of a small country - and a hell of a target for every pirate, gang and raider in the system, hence the need for a man who is as handy with a gun as he is with the controls. Of course, this is Reyes we’re talking about, so he’s not above skimming a little off the top for himself. Consider it danger pay. All the pilots do it. 

However, when skimming becomes more like gouging, well, those companies and all their paid goons are only going to turn a blind eye for some long. Reyes gets a little too greedy (or perhaps just careless), he starts making contacts with those people he’s supposed to be guarding against, maybe a few too many boxes fall off the back of the space-lorry, and things start getting a little too hot for his liking in the Milky Way - the people he’s pissed off don’t have friends in high places, they are the friends in high places. So he takes the first hard exit he can find and joins the Initiative, and hopes this mess doesn’t follow him 600 years across the universe.

I was trawling through the ME wiki and came across a system in the Eagle Nebula called Amun. The system and the planets within are all named after figures or places in Egyptian mythology and history. There’s Anhur, Bast, Neith, Sekhmet, and Sobek. The system is mostly home to Batarians and humans. 

From 2176 to 2178, the system was the site of the Anhur Rebellions, a civil war that broke out when corrupt politicians and corporations basically relegalised slavery because Batarian legal slavery posed an economic threat. So, you got the mostly Batarian Na'hesit, who, ofc, wanted to keep slavery around, VS the rebels, who wanted to abolish slavery. 

WHICH brings me to my dude, Reyes Vidal. 

Firstly, we know that he used to be a shuttle pilot under the call sign Anubis, a god associated with, among other roles, guiding souls in Egyptian mythology. So ‘Anubis’ is interesting because I feel like that’s not really a name you’d use if you were everyday civilian transport. But it does sound like something you’d use if you were, say, a pilot in a war. Additionally, I have learnt that aviator call signs are given to military pilots in RL and can be inspired by things such as personality traits, historical figures, or the pilot’s exploits. 

Secondly, I think we can safely assume that he’s been in the business of smuggling, spying, and being a shady bastard for a while now. 

Thirdly, Reyes’ writer, Courtney Woods, has said that he’s in his late 20s. Let’s say he’s 28/29 and born in 2156 so he was about 19/20 in 2176. Basically, I’m fairly certain that he was alive back then. 

Fourthly, as not-exactly-good as he is, we know that he’s not a big fan of people with power who shit on people without power. 

Conclusion: Reyes Vidal was born in 2156 in the city of New Thebes on the planet Anhur in the Amun system of the Eagle Nebula. When he was 19, civil war broke out in the city after months of unrest between those who opposed the relegalisation of slavery and those who supported it. The fighting quickly swept across the entire system. 

A pretty good flier and not particularly keen on the idea of being enslaved, Reyes chose to join the rebels. He was given an N-503 shuttle and a weapon and told to get to it. 

Reyes wasn’t on the front lines and didn’t see much of the main fight. His job mostly involved smuggling supplies- food, medi-gel, ammo- across enemy lines, and if he could take out a few Na'hesit lackeys while he was at it, well, that was good too. 

During the war, Eclipse mercs found slave camps on Sobek’s moon, Heqet. He, along with others, helped to move people from Heqet to rebel-controlled safe houses. Subsequently, Reyes was given the call sign Anubis, ‘a ferrier of souls’. They really like Egyptian mythology in Amun. 

Mass Effect Legendary Edition | Priority: The Citadel