#reaper war

[colonel-dynamite-gun]

Replaying ME3 for my story and DAMN I forget how well they capture the atmosphere of dread.

[omegastation]

What do you think became of different countries on Earth in Mass Effect? We know there is a United North American nation, are there any other new unions?

My mind knew the names of the unions but not the source, despite the fact that I mentioned it many times in the archives.

Anyway, found it again, the planet Watson: Chinese People's Federation, the United North American States (Canada, Mexico, USA), and the European Union.

Earth is still divided by nation-states. Its full page on the wiki is here with more information, including about UNIN/Texan Megapolis.

I found this discussion I started 9 years ago about Russia and where it would be, and some answers are interesting. I'm also checking some related discussion. At some point here we talked about how relevant countries would be to the storytelling, words used by other species (republics, colonies, ...) and how cultural differences would be perceived.

We know some parts of Earth are in a golden age, others are seen as "less fortunate regions/slums". Now if you ask me what become of "countries" - I think those who live in the more fortunate parts of Earth thinks like this: Alliance > Federations/Unions > Countries in terms of importance. While those who live in less fortunate regions have less of a say in the Alliance/Unions so it would be the reverse.

Now during the Reaper War we know it was a disaster for most of Earth and they lost their comm buoy network.

The ME3 codex says: The militaries of Earth's disparate nation-states have retained only partial communication with the Systems Alliance fleets, leaving the planet's resistance efforts uncoordinated and vulnerable.

What I think is possible:

Lack of Alliance strategy will force some countries to abandon the whole "Alliance" first mindset and either bond even more as federation/union OR become hyper focused on their own country, developing their own form of military doctrine, no longer relying on the Alliance and planet coordination. It's also possible that this will force those countries to dig deep in their history and their various means of survival/methods of communication (ex: code breaking in WW2) which in the end will make them develop a more nationalist mindset.

The parts of the Earth that are like slums might retain more of their population. My reasoning is that those parts are probably less inclined to use technology all the time and so feel less blinded by lack of access to the network and other technology-related attacks. They might also be parts of the Earth that will not interest the Reapers as much as others.

It's possible language will play a key part here as well because if everything is destroyed under the sea, if your satellites are all gone, your network is dead, what about your translator? I live in a country where we're supposed to speak three languages but it's almost a war in itself between two languages and two VERY different cultures. It was crystal clear many times in our history and our mindset even now. Call me pessimistic, but I think the Reaper War would divide us even more, even if the territory is very small.

What do you all think? Some of you are experts on this, don't hesitate to share your thoughts so I can reblog!

[stardustn7]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Miranda Lawson/Male Shepard Characters: Male Shepard (Mass Effect), Miranda Lawson, Hannah Shepard, Garrus Vakarian, Liara T'Soni, Thane Krios, EDI, Cerberus, Kaidan Alenko, Urdnot Wrex, Admiral Hackett, Citadel Council - Character Additional Tags: Shepard's Past, Council Politics, Political Intrigue, Found Family, War Hero Shepard, Earthborn Shepard, Biotic Shepard, Shadow Broker - Freeform, Cerberus - Freeform, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Will Bend Canon, Angst, Hurt/Comfort Summary:

A woman claiming to be Commander Shepard’s long-lost mother appears on the Citadel. She knows things she shouldn't—his birthdate, a lullaby from forgotten dreams, even the name on an old teddy bear.

Who is this woman? Is she truly his mother? What are her motives and how John Shepard will navigate everything in the midst of the Reaper War?

[effectingsomedragons]

Images from 3/5/2012

Tonight is the eve of the tenth anniversary of Mass Effect 3, and having been on Tumblr at the time it went down, I went looking through my old blog to find some of the posts I still had from that era.

For all the faults of the game, regardless of your opinion on it? The lead-up to the release was fantastic.

Fans around the world were getting in on the “game,” photoshopping Reapers into pictures, making posts and tweets about the invasion that had suddenly begun. The blogs that posted some of these are long gone... deactivated or abandoned. But I still have access to my old archive and dug up some. It’s how fans learned, before the game had even released, that reporter Emily Wong died... ramming a Reaper in a shuttle.

I’ll post more later, but here’s to that cold March night ten years ago, when an entire fandom came together to celebrate the end of the world.

[scienceofmasseffect]

Earth and Citadel Station

At the ending of Mass Effect 3, the Reapers hijack Citadel station out of the Widow Nebula and park it over London, Earth. We are afforded breath-taking vistas of the Earth’s disc as we board the Citadel and make our way towards the Crucible and conclusion of the Reaper War.

The coloured choice is made. The Milky Way galaxy is changed forever.

But what of Earth and Citadel, provided the latter did not disintegrate in a red blast of bad War Readiness score?

Citadel’s orbit not shown to scale.

1): We have tens of kilometers long object in an unconventional geostationary orbit above Western Europe. 

It is between low and medium Earth orbits, per our sights of Earth as trek to confront The Illusive Man and then the Starchild. Such an orbit would require constant corrective maneuvers to maintain position above London, but for lack of that we can thank and blame the Reapers, element zero and other assorted shenanigans in Citadel’s capabilities.

2): Nights in Western Europe will be affected. Citadel’s Wards’ exteriors will reflect sunlight at evening and morning across the continent and the Atlantic when the Sun has already set. It will be like a mini-moon, and combine that with full moons for prolonged twilight.

3): The garbage disposal systems that created and maintained Widow Nebula are now dusting over Earth. While the planet receives some tens to up to hundreds of tons of cosmic dust daily, this is very dispersed. Citadel’s output would form a stream that stretches from England to perhaps all the way to Newfoundland and Quebec. 

This also will reflect light, present a navigational hazard to spacecraft and dust the Atlantic Ocean and any lands falling under its wake with a cocktail of exotically ground down garbage.

4): Every satellite orbit will be affected. Bad news for anything without its own means to maneuver and correct orbits, there is now a giant 44.7 * 12.8 * 12.8 kilometers large volume of space station influencing them, if not to crash into directly.

Any satellite to be replaced will have to take Citadel’s existence into account or they will de-orbit or get flung out of position sooner or later.

5): Maneuvering to dock with the Citadel got also somewhat more tricky, but only in comparison to its past position in the Widow Nebula. It’ll be routine to pilots who are docking with anything else orbiting planetary bodies.

---

I would like to thank and credit the following people and communities for contributing to the discussion when this topic was brought up:

Infrastruct of Cerberus Daily News RP forum

Rhapsody in Taupe of Cerberus Daily News RP forum

Sentient Solutions of Cerberus Daily News RP forum

Turtle of Calibrations Mass Effect Discord

Anjian of Calibrations Mass Effect Discord

Cerberus Daily News RP forum and Discord in general

Calibrations Mass Effect Discord in general

[cerberusdailynews]

REAPER WAR TENTH ANNIVERSARY, SPECIAL REPORT

A Special Report From the Press Office of the Citadel Council

Ten years. They can be counted on the fingers of an asari hand, and yet this span has seen more change, more upheaval, more tragedy and more courage than any age prior. Ten years ago, on this day, the device known as the Crucible fired, and the Reaper Invasion –- the most devastating conflict in history -- came to an end.

The galaxy is much changed, and though our peoples look to the future a part of us will always be there, on that day of mystery, that day of salvation. This tenth anniversary, we bring you a series of programs and special reports in honour of the war’s conclusion, and of all those lost during the events of 2186.

Perspectives

That so much can be torn down in so short a time is a sobering reminder of the enduring significance, both the weakness and the strength, of our ties to one another. Not merely our infrastructure and our biospheres, but the more intangible structures of our galactic society -– the assumptions, the bonds of trust, the complacency that is the status quo; all of these were assaulted and –- perhaps -- invalidated. Our secure place in the universe was lost, but through the horror we affirmed precisely why we *need* those ties and bonds, why we are all a part of the melded web that is our civilization. Some might now argue that the war demonstrated the inadequacy of our trust in one another, our love for one another. I argue –- and invite you to argue with me –- that it demonstrated the supreme importance and immortality of those bonds.

-- Professor Matriarch Dalassana Mitoris, elected speaker for the Republic of Dassus

Change is a constant in the universe, and sadly so is death. But in facing change, and facing death, we display our ingenuity, our hopes for clan and kin, and our capacity to meet challenges with new understanding and the courage to apply it practically. There is no doubt that the Reaper Invasion was the greatest disaster in our recorded history. Nothing can replace the lives lost, the landmarks razed, the brilliant minds extinguished. That is not what we aim to do. We aim to learn from our experience, no matter how hard, and build a galaxy in which our newer generation, untouched by the horrors of the war, are not untouched by the wisdom and the understanding so hard-earned in the process.

-- Dr. Rannadril Sevlon Preset Verset Kalam Bru, contracted mate of Dalatrass Jasekli, Salarian Union

The resolve of our peoples did not waver through this most unforgiving of trials. Though our worlds were burned, we did not falter. Though our brothers and sisters were dishonourably slain, we did not falter. Though our hierarchies were tested to the extreme, overall we can say -- they did not falter. We have passed through the midday sun in its intensity, and now we face the long and productive afternoon. Let us continue to stand tall, and when in time we march with the setting sun, the legions we raise in our shadow will live to be greater and more selfless still. That is a tall order, but one in which I have the utmost faith.

-- General Lexicana Querrilus, Duarch of Segment Three, Apien Crest, Turian Hierarchy

Ten years is a long time to some. To others, it is all they have known. When we look at our children, raised in the aftermath of such destruction, we ask ourselves, what will their assumptions be? Will they understand life as a struggle to rebuild against terrible odds? Will they know a family as an incomplete tapestry torn with holes and painful absence? I say no. As the nations of the galaxy step forward to meet the future we are constructing every day -- with our refusal to succumb to pessimism, with our industry and compassion -- we prove that we are all family, and together we prove that the sky’s the limit. A great tactician once said, “Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people”. Those people are us. We can -– and will –- build our children a future they can be proud of.

-- Minister Hiroshi Estigarribia, Committee to Restore The Systems Alliance Parliament

We stand together. We grow accustomed to loss. We fight, we live, we remember. We've been doing it a long time, and we'll keep on doing it. But we do it for a purpose. To build. To turn back the Void. To show our ancestors we will not squander what we now have. This is the song of every race and every clan, across the galaxy. Words are a start, but not enough. I call on the galaxy for action, committed and true. In every action, we create something better than the Reapers would have had us be. Nothing more need be said than that.

-- Urdnot Gren, Tuchankan Reconstruction Corps, Urdnot Coalition

Who can speculate on where the galaxy will go from here? We know only that we will seek new opportunities, take new risks, expand and grow and, yes, suffer setbacks. Some of them may be momentous. But for each loss there is an unexpected gain, for each act of violence an act of compassionate aid, for each despair a geyser of joy. Ten years have passed, and we have rebuilt, we have formed new alliances and shored up old ones. We have restored broken links in the chain that is our stellar society, and we have boldly invested in the future. What more is asked of us? Only this: that each day be a day of gold, no matter how tarnished. We will never forget, and we will honour the opportunities our fallen clansmen cannot.

-- Sho Lemk, Oma Ker Branch Manager, First Bank of Irune

Within each worthy petitioner glows a spark. These ones may disagree endlessly on where this spark originates, how it was first Enkindled, and what it means to nurture and honour it. These ones agree only that it is present, that it is sacred. It is of incomparable importance. These ones think of the many lights extinguished by the Dark Machines, and by the chaos left drifting in their passage. These ones are also agreed, then, that no matter the nature of that spark, all must honour the fading of the light and the valiant glow of those who believed -- believed in the continuation of the chorus, and through their will and sacrifice made it so.

--. The Most Illuminated Feylowseallyeir, Office of Doctrine, Illuminated Primacy

Greatly moved: In times of danger, we come together. The galaxy almost forgot this ancient wisdom during the Reaper Invasion, and the cost was great. Solemn: Let us never again allow ourselves to be taken by surprise, and find that we do not have one another’s flanks covered. Firmly: That is my call to you all. With mournful reverence: May the lost be ever remembered.

-- Junior Ambassador Hajynn, Courts of Dekuuna

It is a fundamental of meaningful existence that a consciousness be free to act upon said consciousness, in the recursion that is the essence of sapience. To choose a unit’s own path and contribute its uniqueness to the eventual Consensus is paramount. Many times, this essential function has been suppressed. No more pertinent example exists than the Old Machines and their attempted hijacking of all galactic systems. Informational, biological, social and political; all were corrupted. This, however, was an action made in error. For the fundamental cannot be denied to any unit. It must be clarified that galactic salvation came through the efforts of two complementary forces -- the consensus of unified action, and the conscious will of the Shepard-Commander. Let us choose to honour these, and their functional unity, during this designated milestone observation.

-- Representative Quintessence, Rannoch Conclave

The losses we labour under are heavy. The weight of collapsed tradition, of the pleas of our ancestors, and the laments of our murdered fathers and mothers; these are the burden we carry. To greater or lesser extent, we all carry them. It is said, controversially, that death is the great equalizer. But there is another, be I bold enough to say it. There is the equalizer that requires all, regardless of station, to carry the sacrifice of what came prior. My brothers and sisters, carry that burden with pride and with resolve. It is yours.

-- Ghalan’Khi Dhl-Mar, Ambassador from the Batarian Confederacy to the New Nova Ascendancy.

There was big fight before I remember. Biggest fight ever. Machines try kill everyone. Everyone say no, everyone fight more, they win argument. I seen film, about brave turian at Miracle, went Palaven.

-- Kihrt, vorcha labourer

With Thanks

There will follow additional reports and observations. From the Citadel to the Terminus, today the galaxy stands greater than the sum of its parts.

"Tides are"

[theoriginalladya]

Look at me. You’re gonna be okay (writing prompt)

Okay, so @jedirangerpenguin asked me two of the Protective Prompts found here last night, and I have one done but not the other.  So, rather than make you wait, my dear, I’ll post this one separately and then respond to the ask with the second one when I get there.

Pairing:  ABBOATS    Abby Williams, Major (Ryan) Coats

Setting: London, England, 2186 during the Reaper War

On AO3 here

Look at me.  You’re gonna be okay.

“Commander?”  The voice – his voice – is soft, a hiss and barely audible, but she hears it. Just loud enough to catch her attention as he seeks her out, but not to give away their position.  

Her eyes squeeze shut as Abby grimaces; not because he spoke and it was loud enough to hear, but because the rush of pain coursing through her body just then makes far too much of a challenge to focus on anything else right now.  If she opens her mouth, instead of the whisper required in order to keep their location secret, the scream prying for freedom at the back of her throat will escape. She can’t… can’t give in to that right now.  Not here. Not now.

Something brushes against her arm and her she inhales sharply through her nose as her eyes fly open.  Everything is a blur at first, but there’s nothing to be done for it.  Again, not here.  

“Williams?”  

She draws in a deeper, slower breath this time and nods.  He might not see the movement, but he’s beside her.  It’s enough to give her something steady to lean on.  Just for a moment.

That is, until he bumps against her right hip, jarring it, and sending another wave of pain arcing through her with such intensity she literally buries her face in the chest of his armor to muffle the cry she cannot hold in.  His hands tighten around her arms as he hisses, “Abby!”  The warning in his tone is enough; her cry cuts short and her legs give out.  She falls, dead weight, toward the ground.

Impact never comes.  Coats’ hands tighten, preventing her from clattering to the ground.  Denied a connection with asphalt and cement, her armor knocks against his and not quietly.  

Sounds stir to life in the night beyond them, a reminder of the ever-present danger they are in when on a mission.  Coats shifts to her side – her good one, thankfully – and slides one arm around her waist while looping hers around his neck and shoulders.  “What’s with you?” he hisses as they move forward, seeking out safety.

Abby shakes her head, unable to respond.  The agony is just too much.  As they step off a curb, she stumbles and his hand tightens it’s hold, then everything around her goes dark…

~

Consciousness comes slowly.  Abby is only slightly surprised that her eyes open again and with it, the darkness returns.  Can’t have been too long, then.  Though it takes longer than usual for her vision to focus, and the pain is still excruciating, she immediately starts listening.  The only thing she hears are the soft whimpers of a child.  

A child?  She blinks twice more, and her eyes finally clear enough to notice the grey eyes staring back at her. She tries to speak, but his hand covers her mouth.  She blinks again, eyes widening as she realizes the whimpers come from her.  

“Why didn’t you tell me you’d been hit?” he hisses.

One of his eyebrows lift before his gaze darts to her hip and then back; she nods, pulling her lip between her teeth and biting down.  She can keep silent while he tends to her injuries.  Hopefully.

Abby knows exactly what he’s doing.  Every soldier gets a course in basic battlefield first aid. At his rank, Coats may well have additional training; she doesn’t know.  Not that it’ll do much good for her situation, though.  Her best recourse is to get back to HQ ASAP and have the medical staff tend to it.  But she’s lost quite a bit of blood and, if the soft grunts Coats can’t hide is an indication, the wound itself isn’t superficial.  

That’s problematic.  Face it, Williams, you may have hit the end of the line here…

She draws in a sharp breath as something cool is applied to her skin.  She recognizes it, though she wants to chastise Coats for resorting to it; it’s a waste for injuries like hers.  Medigel won’t be anywhere near effective as she needs it to be.  

“C’mon, soldier,” he huffs, sliding her arm around his shoulders and neck again, pulling her up to her feet and closer to him. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

She tastes blood as she bites down on her lip. “Leave me,” she breathes, unable to put weight on the leg.  “I’m just slowing you down.”

Without stopping, he half drags, half carries her along with him.  Stubborn bastard, aren’t you?  “If I leave you here, you’re as good as dead.”

“And if you don’t,” she counters, “we both are.”

They stumble through the shadows again, making up for lost time as they head east using the old Tube tunnels and train lines as a guide.  Even if they could make it back tonight – and in her current condition, that’s not very likely – there’s no guarantee she isn’t too far gone as it is.  Plus, it’s a hell of a long trip, and as slowed down as they will be, a far greater chance for the reapers to catch up to them.  

Coats drags them into the shadows between two nearby buildings before he speaks again, and even then, it isn’t above a hoarse whisper near her ear.  "I’m not leaving you here, Abbs.”

Abbs.  Fuck, he’s not listening!  “But –”

Even in the shadows, surrounded by night skies on all sides, she can’t miss the dogged determination that fills the steel grey of his eyes.  “Not happening.  Now, belt up and –”

In the distance, the familiar snarls and growls they’ve come to associate with husks and other reaper creatures drift ever closer.  Abby places her hands on his chest and shoves him with all the strength she has in that moment which, granted, isn’t much.  “Go!  Save yourself!”

He captures her chin in his hand and forces her to look up at him.  She would look away if she could, but the intensity there refuses to let go.  “Look at me,” he insists as he uses his free hand to brush some of her hair back from her eyes.  “You’re gonna be okay.  I promise."

She has no reasonable explanation for it, but in that moment, she believes him…

[thebloodychampion]

@chaotiicgoods​

They had gotten the news that someone named Commander Shepard - a human commander - had gotten full excess to their records or at least their team in order to fight the reapers. As if they didn’t do anything else these days, but the Primarch - no the new Primarch Victus - ordered it in order to protect Palaven. So Quentius was tasked with talking to this human commander, since he was sure that Renius wouldn’t be bothered with that. The ship docked with the Normandy and Quentius walked over the bridge.

“This should also be Haral’s job” He muttered to himself  as he got past the guards and met this Commander Shepard.