Cerberus

Cerberus is a human-survivalist paramilitary group led by the enigmatic Illusive Man. Cerberus' core belief is that humans deserve a greater role in the galactic community, and that the Systems Alliance is too hamstrung by law and public opinion to stand up effectively to the Citadel races. Any methods of advancing humanity's ascension are justified, including illegal or dangerous experimentation, terrorist activities, sabotage and assassination. Cerberus operatives accept that these methods are brutal, but see themselves as comparable to other Citadel races' special operations groups -- the Asari Commando and Salarian Special Tasks Group -- and believe history will vindicate them. Nevertheless, both the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council have declared Cerberus to be a terrorist organization and will prosecute identified Cerberus agents accordingly.

Cells
Cerberus is divided into numerous independent cells which have no knowledge of their counterparts. This ensures that should one cell be compromised, the others would not be captured. Each cell is led by an operative who reports directly to the Illusive Man. Cerberus operates many kinds of cells, ranging from military to political to scientific, but all united under the common goal of advancing humanity.

As of 2185, Cerberus consists of 150 operatives organized into three cells. The Illusive Man oversees all projects carried out by the cells personally; consequently, there are never more than a dozen projects active at one time. This degree of micro-management leaves the organization vulnerable should the Illusive Man ever be compromised, though he has been smart enough to avoid detection so far.

Communication
Communication throughout Cerberus sometimes takes the form of steganographic messages embedded within extranet broadcasts. These messages can range from troop movement orders to instructions to financiers to direct money into certain cells. This method of communication was recently compromised by the Systems Alliance.

The Illusive Man can also afford quantum-entanglement communicators. One such device was installed within the Normandy SR-2 to give the Illusive Man a secure, direct means of communication with Commander Shepard.

Financing
Cerberus has wealthy sympathizers within the Alliance military-industrial complex, who contribute credits and resources to Cerberus, and trust the Illusive Man to make the right decisions. Cerberus also owns several front corporations which further fund and support their operations. Spending trends indicate that Cerberus has a reliable income running up to several billion credits per year.

Network
Cerberus has operatives planted across Citadel space and the Terminus Systems who regularly report to the Illusive Man. Due to their widespread network, Cerberus effectively has access to almost every settled system, major trade stop, and colony in the galaxy. However, Cerberus has no knowledge of what goes on in uncharted systems and the Migrant Fleet, thus rendering the Illusive Man blind in those areas.

Cerberus operatives usually work alone. If an operative is captured, depending on their usefulness, Cerberus might attempt a rescue or simply declare them to be expendable and abandon them to their captors.

Mass Effect
During the events of Mass Effect, Commander Shepard discovers that Cerberus has conducted horrific experiments intended to create super soldiers, including experiments on rachni and Thorian Creepers. They accidentally unleashed rachni on Listening Posts Alpha and Theta when their experimental subjects -- shipped from Noveria -- escaped from Depot Sigma-23. Cerberus also deliberately destroyed a settlement on Chasca by turning the colonial pioneer team there into Husks. A traumatised marine named Corporal Toombs also claimed that in one of their most devastating experiments, Cerberus lured thresher maws to the colony on Akuze, resulting in the notorious massacre, later capturing Toombs -- one of the only survivors -- to conduct brutal tests. Things came to a head when Commander Shepard, investigating the disappearance of a group of marines under Rear Admiral Kahoku, found that Cerberus had lured them to a thresher maw nest using a distress beacon (similar to the "experiment" they allegedly conducted on Akuze). After being informed of the marines' fate, Kahoku bought information from the Shadow Broker and asked Shepard to track Cerberus down. During his investigation, Kahoku came to conclusion that Cerberus was in fact a rogue black ops group that broke away from the Alliance. However, soon after he had managed to contact Commander Shepard with this information, Kahoku was captured and killed by Cerberus. Shepard finds Kahoku's body in a Cerberus facility on Binthu. Shepard then headed to Nepheron to launch an assault on Cerberus' main base.

Assignments involving Cerberus include:
 * UNC: Colony of the Dead
 * UNC: Dead Scientists
 * UNC: Listening Post Alpha → UNC: Listening Post Theta → UNC: Depot Sigma-23
 * UNC: Missing Marines → UNC: Cerberus → UNC: Hades' Dogs

Cerberus Forces
Cerberus bases are usually guarded by the following forces:
 * Cerberus Commandos: Highly trained shock troops armed with assault rifles or pistols.
 * Cerberus Snipers: Often found indoors, these snipers find cover and hit you with Assassination.
 * Cerberus Anti-Tanks: These units are on patrol outside the base and are armed with assault rifles that have the ability to fire rockets by switching fire mode, which - fitting with their name - they tend to use against the Mako.
 * Research Technicians: The technicians are normally biotics; though unarmored, they use powerful Throw attacks.

The bases also contain whatever dangerous experimental subjects Cerberus is currently working on, which includes rachni (soldiers and workers) and Thorian Creepers.

Mass Effect: Redemption
Despite its human-centric reputation, Cerberus again is not above employing and relying on agents of alien species. After the Normandy SR-1 is destroyed in a surprise attack by the Collector Cruiser, and Commander Shepard goes missing, the Illusive Man personally coordinates the efforts of Liara T'Soni and Feron to infiltrate the Shadow Broker's organization and prevent the acquisition of Shepard's body by the Collectors. Miranda Lawson with several Cerberus troopers ambush and kill the Blue Suns mercenaries that have detained Liara and Feron somewhere on the Omega station and take them to a safehouse, where Liara talks to the Illusive Man via holographic communicator. The leader of Cerberus motivates her to work for him, and use Feron, admitting that his own assets are bound to be ineffective against the Shadow Broker. To pay for Feron's services and cover any other possible expenses Miranda provides Liara with credits. However, neither of them is unaware that Feron already has a secret deal with the Illusive Man. In the end, his expectations of Feron and Liara's ability come to fruition when Cerberus collects both the intel on the Shadow Broker's operations and Shepard's body.

Mass Effect: Ascension
Cerberus plays a key role in the events of Mass Effect: Ascension. It is revealed that Cerberus is led by a mysterious figure known only as the Illusive Man, and that Cerberus' goal is for humanity to be ascendant over all other species. Unlike the Alliance, which is restricted by the laws of the Council, the Illusive Man is prepared to take any action, no matter how heinous, to achieve his goal, believing history will vindicate him. For now, Cerberus has to work behind the scenes. Its primary cover is the starship manufacturer Cord-Hislop Aerospace. Cerberus has operatives across the Alliance, often in high-ranking positions, giving the Illusive Man constant updates and feeding him information that would otherwise be classified.

It is also revealed that Cerberus is responsible for several acts of sabotage and at least one assassination. In 2170, Cerberus engineered the Eldfell-Ashland Energy accident over Yandoa with Paul Grayson as intermediary, and implicitly two other accidents starting four months before that in two other colonies. The death of Claude Menneau in 2173 was also at the order of the Illusive Man.

In Mass Effect: Ascension, Cerberus focuses its attention on two separate projects. The first is human biotics, and they have infiltrated the Ascension Project to take advantage of the Alliance's biotic research. The key test subject is Gillian Grayson, Paul Grayson's daughter, whom Cerberus are feeding specialized medication to turn her into 'humanity's saviour'... or a deadly weapon. The second area of interest is the quarian Migrant Fleet, which the Illusive Man sees as a threat, given that the Fleet is the largest single armada in the galaxy. Also, as creators of the geth, the quarians have suddenly become of much greater interest in light of the recent attack on the Citadel. To this end, the Illusive Man contacts a quarian exile, Golo, to gain the Flotilla's transmission codes.

However, Pel decided to betray Cerberus, planning on selling Gillian and her tutor Hendel Mitra to the Collectors. Grayson killed him but also decided to abandon Cerberus, realizing that they would use his daughter as a weapon.

Mass Effect 2
In Mass Effect 2, Shepard has to work with Cerberus to stop a terrifying threat to the galaxy: the Collectors. One location in Mass Effect 2 is a major Cerberus station in the Horse Head Nebula. Cerberus, headed by the Illusive Man, is responsible for bringing Shepard back from the dead after a devastating attack destroys the original Normandy. Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor are both members of Cerberus, as are the crew of the Normandy SR-2.

Cerberus constructs the Normandy SR-2 and allows Commander Shepard to command it. When asked how Cerberus could obtain the schematics and data necessary to reconstruct a highly advanced, classified Alliance ship, the AI EDI reports that information is blocked (meaning she cannot reveal it to Shepard). However, after EDI's integration with the Normandy, the blocks are removed, revealing that Cerberus initially persuaded and backed the Alliance in co-developing the Normandy SR-1 with the turians, allowing humans to observe turian technologies and warship design practices. After its construction, Cerberus retained the schematics, purchased parts from thousands of suppliers and had it assembled by one of their cells at a remote location in the Voyager cluster.

It is revealed later in the game that before Cerberus infiltrated the Ascension Project, they had a facility called Teltin on Pragia to research biotic potential in humans. They did horrific tests on children kidnapped from poor families on Earth, the colonies or bought from batarian slavers, all so that they wouldn't have to experiment on their prized subject, known only as Subject Zero. However, the Teltin facility went behind the Illusive Man's back in their work. Their research soon ended when a group of test subjects started a riot. The surviving subjects were given mild amnesic treatments and sent to the Alliance, passed off as survivors of slaver attacks, while the facility staff were forcibly retired.

Cerberus also runs Project Overlord, an ambitious undertaking to not only understand the geth, but to find a way to manipulate them through their religious fervor similarly to Saren's methods. Administered on the planet Aite and run by Dr. Gavin Archer, Project Overlord was on the cusp of a breakthrough when the entire facility inexplicably went dark. Sent by the Illusive Man to salvage the situation, Shepard discovers that Archer had hooked his brother David, an autistic savant, into a VI interface to interact with the geth. The over-stimulation drove David insane and caused him to take control of the base, unleashing geth and Cerberus' own security mechs on the staff.

Mass Effect: Retribution
Sometime after the assault on the Collector Base, Cerberus kidnapped one of their former operatives; Paul Grayson who was now working for Aria T'Loak on Omega. Cerberus operatives, led by Kai Leng, one of the Illusive Man's top 'wetwork agents', attacked Grayson's apartment, kidnapping Grayson and murdering his lover Liselle, as well as two security guards. They took him to one of Cerberus' many research stations, where the Illusive Man ordered him implanted with Reaper technology which they recovered. However, just before Grayson was kidnapped, he had sent all the information he had on Cerberus to Kahlee Sanders, in the hope she could use it to bring down Cerberus or use it as leverage to protect herself from harm. Sanders turned to Admiral David Anderson for assistance, who in turn sought the help of the turians due to his concerns about Cerberus infiltration of the Alliance hierarchy. The turians launched raids against several Cerberus bases and front companies, and a number of Cerberus agents and supporters were arrested on the Citadel, greatly impairing the operations of the group.

Still believing that Cerberus still needed to protect and defend humanity, and that Grayson, who had escaped Cerberus custody during the turian attack, was a huge threat to Cerberus’s operations and humanity itself, the Illusive Man made a business deal with Aria T'Loak, asking her to kill Grayson in exchange for a substantial sum of money. The trap failed, and Grayson once again escaped, setting a course for the Ascension Project. Kai Leng, who had observed the failed ambush, offered to transport Sanders and Anderson off-station, but they turned on him, overpowering him with the aid of a group of turian mercenaries, and using his ship to pursue Grayson. They soon caught up with him, and Kai Leng was able to eliminate Grayson and escape capture, albeit in an injured state.

The Illusive Man then made contact once more with Aria T'Loak, and was able to successfully negotiate the return of Cerberus data logs from Grayson's time in captivity. With all the 'loose ends' tied up, the Illusive Man was able to return to the twin tasks of rebuilding his damaged organization and continuing preparations to combat the Reapers.

Facilities

 * Binthu research facilities
 * Nepheron underground base
 * Depot Sigma-23
 * Minuteman Station
 * Lazarus Research Station (site of the Lazarus Project)
 * Teltin Facility on Pragia
 * Aite outposts (site of Project Overlord)
 * Hermes Station
 * Prometheus Station
 * Vulcan Station
 * Atlas Station
 * Trident laboratory and compound

Front Corporations

 * Cord-Hislop Aerospace
 * CDR Holdings
 * Terra Nova Commonwealth Bank
 * Haribon Military Industries
 * Milky Way Foundation
 * New Dawn Pharmaceuticals

Operatives

 * Active Operatives
 * Illusive Man (leader of Cerberus)
 * Miranda Lawson (captain of the Lazarus Cell)
 * Jacob Taylor
 * Dr. Gavin Archer
 * Kai Leng


 * Former Operatives
 * Paul Grayson (deceased)
 * Pel (deceased)
 * Dr. Jiro Toshiwa (apprehended)
 * Wilson (deceased)
 * Dr. Chandana (deceased)
 * Tyrone Rawlings (deceased)
 * Skye Turnick (deceased)

Trivia

 * The name "Cerberus" comes from Greek mythology, where Cerberus is the three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades. In universe, the organization's name comes from an anonymous manifesto made after the First Contact War detailing the need for humanity to have a "Cerberus" to guard it from the aliens beyond the Charon Relay (Charon being also the name of the ferryman in Greek mythology in charge of ferrying souls to Hades).
 * The PC version of Mass Effect adds equipment produced by the Cerberus Skunkworks, although they are only obtainable through the console.
 * The Shadow Broker has files on Cerberus which can be accessed aboard his ship.