He first appears in the novel "" Prior to the events of the "Mass Effect" series, Saren takes command of a geth faction through the use of a Reaper known as Sovereign. With a machine army at his command, he uses them to both do his bidding and oppose Shepard across the story of the "Mass Effect" video game. Saren's main base is situated on the planet Virmire, where he is conducting experiments such as a cure for the Krogan Genophage; Captain Kirrahe's determination to destroy Saren's base, and thus the cure with it, causes a rift between Shepard and Wrex which may be resolved by the player in a number of ways. Throughout the course of the game, the Reaper slowly began to manipulate Saren through subtle subliminal messages into helping it bring back the Reapers. During the geth invasion of the Citadel, Saren uses the Prothean Conduit to gain access to the Citadel to allow "Sovereign" to activate the Citadel mass relay. The player can then either attempt to kill Saren or appeal to Saren to fight his indoctrination, which if successful will prompt him to commit suicide. Shepard later has to fight a revived and mutated Saren, who is possessed by Sovereign through his grafted cybernetics. Upon defeat of the Sovereign-manipulated Saren, Sovereign itself loses its defenses and is destroyed. IGN included the moment Saren commits suicide in their list of 13 Best "Mass Effect" Moments. Saren is voiced by Fred Tatasciore. Matriarch Benezia is the mother of Liara T'Soni, and was a highly regarded spiritual leader among the asari until she was mind controlled by the Reaper Sovereign and forced to become Saren's second in command. Her appearance is intended to capture the beauty and mystical power of the asari, and also to associate her with Saren's malevolence through its darker and more enigmatic qualities. The design of her headdress references religious and royal clothing. In "Mass Effect" Shepard travels to the planet Noveria and confronts Benezia, discovering that she has found and captured a surviving queen of the rachni. Benezia intends to use the rachni queen to breed an army of rachni to fight Saren's enemies. Although Benezia has a lucid moment during their fight, where she reveals the next phase of Saren's plans and warns Shepard about Sovereign's corrupting influence, Shepard has to fight her to the death after she completely succumbs to the indoctrination.