2001:
The terrorist network al-Qaeda hijacked several passenger planes and flew them into the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon; the United States declared a War on Terror and immediately invaded Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

2003:
Capitalizing on the popularity of the War on Terror, the United States invaded Iraq and deposed its leader, Saddam Hussein.

2005:
In light of the Second Refusal War, the Treaty of Farixen was amended when the turians announced the production of five additional dreadnoughts, bringing the levels from 35>21>7 to 40>24>8.

2014:
The United States of America introduced the first line of combat-ready laser guns; Solid State Laser weapons were capable of shooting down missiles and aerial drones; ISIS (a former al-Qaeda affiliate), which rose to prominence with the destabilization of Iraq and Syria, declared itself a caliphate.

2019:
ISIS is destroyed.

2025:
The United States of America introduced the first line of combat-ready railguns to their navy.

*For all your future predictions, go here.

2030:
The West African Free Trade Agreement (WAFTA) was ratified amongst the nations of western Africa.

*Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (and Western Sahara), Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Tunisia.

2037:
Railguns had been adopted by all major nations of Planet Earth.

2050:
The Hand of Allah terrorist group (which was led by remnants of ISIS) detonated Ebola-laced virus bombs in downtown Barcelona, killing over 2.5 million people over the next two months; after claiming responsibility for the bomb, the Hand of Allah detonated more virus bombs in Tel Aviv; the city was sealed by the Israeli government and incinerated with a nuclear weapon; weeks later, the Hand of Allah captured and executed the entire Saudi royal family (except for two members who were in the United States at the time) before seizing total control of Saudi Arabia and declaring a Third Caliphate; the Caliphate forcibly absorbed Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Shiastan, and the UAE following similar leadership purges; Egypt, the occupied Palestinian territories, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen announced that they would ally with the Caliphate against Western aggression; the United States, with the help of Gemini Security, began a campaign of mass targeted bombings and precision strikes against Caliphate targets; the War of Allah lasted exactly forty-two days; over twenty million people died since the bombing of Barcelona; Saudi Arabia fractured into territories similar to those before the rise of the monarchy; allied countries fell into civil war as their leaders were killed through targeted bombings and assassinations.

*You may notice that the War of Allah happens ~20 years after it did in OSaBC. The in-universe explanation for this is that the Middle East in our timeline is actually stable by comparison, with fewer interventions from other nations and less radicalism overall. But the author’s reason for the change is because I needed WAFTA to be fully implemented so that a theocratic war would affect the outlook of Muslim-dominant secular governments (the Hand of Allah fucking hates West Africa for not being fundamentalist enough, so Africans reject it even more; they also become more unified due to extreme Islamophobia in the US and Europe following the war). WAFTA would be roughly equal to the EU at this point, not a country outright, but definitely grouped as one(ish) people.

*The whole war was a proof of concept for Victor Manswell’s long-term plans. He was the main financier of the Hand of Allah and provided them with materiel to build the virus-bombs.

2051:
In the aftermath of the War of Allah, the Shi’ite-dominant nations of the Middle East joined together and formed the Persian Caliphate; this led to concerns in the West which just fought against another self-proclaimed caliphate, but the Persians appeared to be a semi-liberal democracy with no extremist overtones; Gemini Security became the leading global PMC following the end of the war, making its founder, Victor Manswell, one of the richest and most powerful people on Earth.

*Totally basing Gemini Security off of Atlas from “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.”

*The Persian Caliphate consists of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Eastern Arabia, Iran, North Yemen, Shiastan, and South Arabia.

2052:
The United States of America began construction of the first space elevator in French Guiana after securing a land lease from France; trillionaire Victor Manswell began building a lunar base.

*Inflation is the main cause of Manswell’s label. A trillionaire in the future is a billionaire now is a millionaire a hundred years ago.

*The elevator is partially a response to the bullshit of fanaticism and war (plus the tech is available). Those virus-bombs could easily be switched out with an engineered plague that wipes out the human species. Time to move off-world.

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2060:
Miguel de la Ardiente came to power in Brazil.

2069:
Armstrong Outpost at Shackleton Crater was formally founded as the first permanent human settlement on Luna, on the 100th anniversary of the first lunar landing.

2070:
The African Confederation (which was built upon the WAFTA Treaty) was officially established as a unified and independent nation; the AC asserted its sovereignty over all resources within its territory; this led to immediate diplomatic friction with France, which had long exploited the resources of Algeria and Mali; Brazil began expanding its borders, absorbing Argentina and Colombia.

*This is reminiscent of Great Britain asking the CIA to depose the democratic Iranian government so they could exploit the Persian Gulf through Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (aka BP). The AC forcing out France severely pisses them off and attempts are made to destabilize Africa (nothing was particularly successful, however).

AC Flag:

2072:
The African Confederation asserted its authority over the ‘plazas de soberanía,’ immediately coming into diplomatic conflict with Spain; the AC offered to recognize Spanish authority over Ceuta and Melilla if it agreed to recognize African authority over the rest of the disputed territories; Spain refused.

2073:
The African Confederation approached Ceuta and Melilla with an offer of voluntary assimilation; fearing the loss of its exclaves, Spain ratified the treaty ceding control of the ‘plazas de soberanía’ to the AC.

*Spain had already lost Catalonia by this point and the AC was making a VERY generous offer to the two exclaves. In the end, Spain recognized that most of the territories were useless rocky islands with no resources or people; giving up Isla de Alborán (which Morocco had never even claimed) was a bit hard to swallow, especially after the AC turned it into a naval airbase.

2075:
The African Confederation withdrew from the United Nations; Ardiente declared himself Imperador do Novo Brasil; the Brazilian Empire launched a war of aggression and conquest, annexing the entirety of the South American mainland (excluding Panama and the Guianas); Brazil received international condemnation and economic sanctions, neither of which stopped its expansion.

*Had Ardiente attacked either Panama or French Guiana it would have caused war with the US, and his sponsor (Manswell) knew it wasn’t time yet. Africa, despite evidence to the contrary, is seen as a greater and more pressing threat. This has a lot to do with the diplomatic bridges the AC is currently burning, and the fact that its population is Muslim-majority (post War of Allah, Islamophobia gets cranked up to eleven).

*The AC demanded a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and was denied; it refuses to return to the fold unless given the seat. The UN bureaucrats get pissy because Africa isn’t towing the line and they start discussing sanctions and ‘peacekeeping’ missions.

2077:
The French Guiana Space Elevator’s construction was completed; Liara T’Soni was born on Planet Thessia.

*The elevator is a triumph of human engineering and a source of severe friction since France and the US decide who gets to use it (read: not the AC).

2081:
World War 3 broke out after the United States of America went to war with the African Confederation.

*The cause of the war is complicated (as all wars are), but it certainly wasn’t unexpected. International pressure (France and Spain, as well as the UN), Islamophobia (populist fears in the West), the waning influence and power of the US (national debt is fucking enormous and it’s become impossible to ignore), American provocations (trade wars; war games with Spain near the Canary Islands), and African provocations (cyberwarfare learned from Russia and China; strategic alliances with American enemies; pissing on the French and Spanish) all laid the foundation for this conflict. US and its allies vs. AC and its allies (Muslim nations mostly).

*One of the reasons I bought “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare” was to get a sense of what technology might look like in a future war. “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” is also a good guide given the prevalence of mechanical augmentation in society at this point.

2082:
Cumbre Vieja, a volcano in the Canary Islands, erupted and shattered the island; the resulting landslide created a mega-tsunami that devastated coastal lands in the Atlantic Ocean (the East Coast of North America was hit particularly hard); Brazil launched attacks against both America and Africa; Brazil’s allies, China and Russia, quickly followed suit; Africa and the US declared a ceasefire and joined forces against their mutual enemies.

*Ardiente was waiting for a ‘sign from God’ to join the war. The landslide was triggered through a controlled detonation from his sponsor (Manswell), though no one knew that at the time.

*China is exceedingly corrupt, inexperienced, and ineffective… but they are extremely dangerous in cyberspace. They develop and deploy EMP and hacking weapons for use against mechanical augmentations and suits (think “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” and “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare”).

2084:
Brazil, China, and Russia were defeated; Ardiente’s death triggered a failsafe, known as ‘Santos das Taças,’ which detonated low-yield salted-cobalt nuclear weapons in hundreds of different cities, rendering large swathes of the planet uninhabitable; Victor Manswell invaded the planet with his Gemini Security army, proclaiming that only he could bring stability to a broken world; early attacks focused on America and Africa which were the strongest nations at the time.

*The Gibraltar and Red Sea locks, built to prevent flooding of the Mediterranean, were destroyed. Global sea levels have risen 20 meters since 2017. Coastal cities of the Mediterranean had to be evacuated en masse.

*The Santos das Taças (Saints of the Bowls) irradiated every national capital city in the world, as well as any city of 5 million people or more.

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2085:
WWIII came to an end after Earth forces successfully destroyed the Zurich Holdfast on Luna; a small fleet of ships fled from Zurich shortly before the lunar base was destroyed; the ships carried Manswell and his allies in cryostasis, along with frozen genetic material taken from Earth, on a long-term journey to the Alpha Centauri System; Gemini Security was shuttered after the war; the United States and African Confederation were in economic ruin, but worked together to recover from the damage; Russia and China were devastated during the conflict and fell into civil war; Novo Brasil fractured into its component nations as the core territory fell into civil war; the United Nations, whose headquarters was damaged by the mega-tsunami and later destroyed after Ardiente’s death, was dissolved in the aftermath of WWIII; South Korea annexed North Korea as a protectorate; South Korea began the slow process of reintegrating North Korea; over four billion people were killed by war’s end.

*The key difference between this and OSaBC is the relationship between America and Africa. In canon OSaBC they continued a shadow war and undermined one another, leaving them vulnerable to Manswell. In ‘Paragon’ OSaBC they were suspicious of one another (understandable, since they’d been enemies recently), but fought together honorably and protected each other in good faith, Manswell couldn’t defeat a unified enemy. This unity also kept them stable following the salted-nuke attacks.

*The AC was given free access to the US space elevator in French Guiana. The US and AC also work together to try and stabilize South America as it transitions back to several republics. Reborn component nations moved to annex parts of Brazil (the Allies allowed this as wartime compensation, delineating borders along the Amazon River for the north and borders consistent with historical territorial claims in the south). Additionally, the south and east of Brazil broke away and formed three independent nations (Equador, São Paulo, and Sul). The Republic of São Paulo remains voluntarily demilitarized and is one of the freest places on the planet (gotta shed that São Paulo Death Squad stigma). Equador cannot be confused with Ecuador as that country merged with Colombia and Venezuela after the war to form Gran Colombia.

2087:
The Second Chinese Civil War came to an end when the Republic of China (Taiwan) invaded the mainland and defeated the largely depleted warring factions; China was forced to recognize the independence of Tibet and Turkestan as it lacked sufficient forces to conquer them while stabilizing the eastern mainland; it was also forced to recognize Mongolia’s annexation of the Inner Mongolia province.

*Most sci-fi, Mass Effect included, portray future mainland China as ‘The Chinese People’s Federation’ or some such. The implication being that Communist China was replaced by a democratic version. That is one path it could take, but perhaps more likely is what I present here. The CPF would imply that a) the transition was peaceful (no way in hell), b) the transition was so quick that Taiwan couldn’t react (very unlikely), c) China invaded and conquered Taiwan, thus destroying the Republic of China, or d) Taiwan was content to remain de facto independent and released all claims on the mainland, which seems to be the current direction it’s moving in.

2089:
The Holy Russian Empire, a theocratic constitutional monarchy, was founded with the coronation of the Tsar following the end of the Second Russian Civil War.

*Putin’s Russia has been empowering the Orthodox Church in recent years. This could be the end result if taken to the extreme. It’s actually less corrupt and more prosperous than before, but theocracy is easily twisted into tyranny and hate.

2092:
With the collapse of the United Nations and the decimation of America, the European Union moved to strengthen its hold over the continent; humans began colonizing the northern peninsula of Antarctica; Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom attempted to enforce their sovereignty over the territory; the dispute nearly led to war, with Argentina taking the opportunity to annex the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas); the Antarctic colonists resisted the attempt and reached out to the United States of America and the African Confederation for protection; the US and AC mediated the negotiations which ended with the recognition of the Antarctic Republic and an end of hostilities between Argentina and the UK (the Falkland Islands were returned to the UK); the claimants of Antarctic territory signed a treaty relinquishing all claims on the continent and recognizing the AR’s authority over its resources.

*The environmental degradation of the war may make Antarctic colonization unobtainable or unfeasible; why colonize new (shitty) land when you already live somewhere with infrastructure and such. Perhaps one of the world’s trillionaires will take it on as a pet project and begin construction of a private arcology. Then again, Antarctica is one of the few places on Earth that wasn’t nuked during the war, so it’d be prime real-estate.

2096:
Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America merged to form the United North American States; the new union was made possible due to the devastation the war wrought on the US economy; the new union was strongly opposed by multiple factions of secessionists; the Statue of Liberty (repaired after the mega-tsunami) was destroyed by the New York chapter of a group called ‘Freedoms First’; the short-lived Second American Civil War began and ended after nine months.

*This was less a war and more an armed protest and domestic terrorist attack. None of the states bothered to secede.

2100:
After absorbing Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan into the Empire, the Tsar renamed his country the ‘Holy Empire of Greater Russia’; North and South Korea have merged completely; North Korea’s economy had stabilized to the point where it would only cause a minor disruption to South Korea’s.

*This is an actual prediction for Korea. The South will have to deal with the starving masses of the North, but they must move slowly with reintegration otherwise their own economy will collapse. That was a major issue in Germany when West and East reunified.

2103:
The European Space Agency’s Lowell City in Eos Chasma became the first permanent human settlement on Planet Mars.

2104:
The African Union was officially established as a supranational government controlling all of Africa (with the exception of the African Confederation and Spanish territory); the AU allowed for free trade amongst members and it sponsored large public works projects to help offset African poverty.

*The AU in present times is utter bullshit. An old boys club created by the despots of Africa so they could meet up and brag about how long each has held their people in subjugation. It has some good features, of course, but it’s rare to find something that’s COMPLETELY bad. In this future, it becomes like the current EU (and is just as flawed).

2110:
Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam merged to form the ‘Communist Republic of the Eastern Front’; highly isolationist, CREF sought to resist the growing unification of nations under supranational governments and the influence of nearby China.

2120:
The Holy Empire of Greater Russia began ‘colonizing’ the moons of Jupiter to the exclusion of other nations (political dissidents and enemies of the state were sent to these ‘Gulag Worlds’ as forced labor); when the West objected, Russia cited ‘divine providence’ as their authority in the matter.

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2133:
Liara T’Soni began her career as an archeologist; she specialized in researching the prothean extinction.

2139:
Saren Arterius was born.

2140:
In an attempt to fund its public works projects, the African Union sought to tax the lucrative technology firms in the south; this caused five of the southern nations (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)) to breakaway and form the ‘Coalition for the Advancement of South African Interests’; the AU collapsed shortly after the secession of CASAI.

*This comes from Zaeed’s backstory in AssaultSloth’s “Interstitium.” It’s a good retelling of ME2, but is not an AU by any stretch. I especially like the chapter from Legion’s perspective. It’s also the source of CREF from above at 2110.

*Those southern tech firms were the main innovators of human augmentation prosthetics and implants used during WWIII (they sold to both sides prior to the tsunami, then they were de facto Allied Forces since Ardiente preached that augmentation was heresy; despite his special forces being augmented and having an artificial heart himself). They’ve continued ‘printing money’ ever since, which is why the AU targeted them.

2143:
Prospectors discovered a cache of prothean ruins near the Deseado Crater on Planet Mars; the major governments sponsoring the expedition quickly locked down the site and began reverse-engineering the technology in secret; the UNAS took the opportunity to reveal an alien probe that was recovered from Roswell, New Mexico nearly two hundred years earlier.

*The truth is out there… by which I mean: ‘further down.’

2145:
CASAI instituted restrictive trade embargoes in an attempt to pressure the rest of Africa to join with the organization; riots and protests gave way to the ‘CASAI Civil War.’

*This was never expanded on in “Interstitium,” I simply kept it. Never gave much thought to the idea and whether or not it’s even viable. CASAI would have to be a corporate oligarchy of some kind. Business interests trumping everything else. I’ll have to discuss it with someone more knowledgeable.

2148:
The ruins of Mars were formally announced to the general population; the African Confederation, European Union, and the United North American States coauthored the ‘Human Systems Alliance Charter’; humanity became a Tier 3 species after successfully reverse-engineering the prothean technology.

*I took the technological tier system of the Halo universe and applied it to the species of Mass Effect. Tier 3 refers to space-faring races with access to relatively primitive FTL technology.

2149:
The G18 of Planet Earth ratified the Human Systems Alliance Charter after much debate and tweaking; the Charter established a framework for human space exploration and exploitation; the Charter included clauses allowing for the creation of a military force for the defense of Human Space; no legislative or executive authority was given to the Systems Alliance; the United North American States and the African Confederation had feared ceding national sovereignty to a supranational entity and fought vehemently against attempts by the European Union to form an Alliance Parliament.

*The UNAS and AC both cited the UN as ineffectual and counterproductive. They also feared the rise of a tyrant like Ardiente or Manswell (they found his notes at the Zurich Holdfast).

*G18:
African Confederation
Argentine Republic
Coalition for the Advancement of South African Interests
Commonwealth of Australia
East African Federation
European Union
Federative Republic of Brazil
Holy Empire of Greater Russia
Persian Caliphate
Republic of China
Republic of Gran Colombia
Republic of India
Republic of Indonesia
Republic of Korea
Republic of São Paulo
State of Japan
United Kingdom
United North American States

*Poland annexed Kaliningrad Oblast and the Grodno and Brest Regions of Belarus after WWIII. Ukraine reclaimed all its territory from Russia.

*Sea levels have risen by 60m at this point due to all the inland ice melting.

2150:
Curtis Taylor was born in Lowell City on Planet Mars.

2151:
Construction on Arcturus Station began; the MSV Honey Timber exploded due to a fusion plant malfunction; dust-form element zero was released over Singapore International Spaceport; a dozen pregnant women were amongst those exposed.

*Shouldn’t Singapore be under water? Must’ve built some big ass levees.

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2152:
The Alliance Joint Chiefs of Staff began to assert greater authority over the member nations of Planet Earth; the various sovereign governments began to chafe under the Alliance’s tightening grip; local revolts were often put down with Alliance assistance, increasing its reach.

*I’ll need to talk to LP about military command structure when no civilian branch of government exists. Maybe similar to NATO, but with greater autonomy.

2153:
The Jovian moons declared their independence and Russia immediately cried ‘treason’ and demanded that the Alliance assist in bringing the colonies to heel; the Joint Chiefs of Staff were divided on how to proceed, as were the other major nations of Earth.

*The ‘colonists’ of Jupiter were little more than slaves. Subduing a slave-revolt isn’t something anyone wanted to be a part of. Russia’s continued harassment pushes the colonists to try to seize Alliance hardware to fight the Tsar’s forces.

2154:
The Jovian colonies attempted to seize a major fueling depot in orbit of Jupiter; the attack succeeded and the small Alliance garrison was killed; the Joint Chiefs responded with extreme force, evicting the colonists from the station and moving to subdue the colonies themselves; there were major protests across Earth and other colonies over the treatment of fellow humans; the Jovian colonists detonated the He-3 fuel cells of the refueling station, destroying it, twelve docked ships, and killing over 5,000 people; the Alliance responded by destroying the colonies through orbital bombardment; both Rear Admiral Jon Grissom and Admiral Kastanie Drescher resigned in protest; the remaining Joint Chiefs, led by Rear Admiral Nà Ho-Chen, General Daria Perelkina, and Fleet Admiral Gideon Eisenhorn, used similar tactics to quash the protests and general unrest in Human Space; this marked the beginning of the Human Civil War; Yonis Chu was born.

*The Human Civil War was inspired by the backstory for thesarge400’s “The Day the Arms Closed.” Good story as a whole, but the impetus for his HCW was just dumb (the Alliance instituted a draft… and that’s it). This one’s a little more believable and was somewhat based on the Interplanetary War of the Halo universe, at least broadly.

*Russia was later blamed for causing the HCW (the war was building regardless; their colonial slaves became the tripwire) and gradually becomes more democratic.

2155:
A mini civil war, known as ‘The Troubles,’ began in Turian Space; separatist rebels began agitating for colonial independence.

2156:
The Communist Republic of the Eastern Front unveiled the first proto-dreadnought, the Aegukka; the Aegukka managed to fight through an Alliance blockade and pass through the Charon Relay; the Aegukka was lost with all hands shortly after.

*Alliance forces bombed the shit out of CREF in retaliation (and to make clear that only the Alliance would be allowed to operate military vessels in space; had previously made that point to Russia during the ‘Galilean Crisis’).

*UPDATE: In OSaBC, the Zurich Holdfast escape fleet teleported to a ‘place mortals weren’t meant to tread.’ LP based this off of the movie “Event Horizon” and has stated that the movie or at least the movie’s concept was to be considered canon. In the Paragon OSaBC, it is the Aegukka which is lost to the abyss.

*UPDATE 2: Looks like the Zurich Holdfast escape fleet was actually intercepted by the salarian STG and the people aboard were vivisected. So never mind. 😛

2157:
The Alliance introduced the SSV Everest as the first official dreadnought-type technology demonstrator; the Everest was used to bombard anti-Alliance positions in Ireland, Scotland, and the West Indies.

*No First Contact War! At least not yet, and this will change the outlook of the Alliance. Unlike the High Lords, the ‘Paragon’ Alliance isn’t interested in sequestering humanity on Earth where they can be controlled (yet). This results in much higher populations in the colonies as people leave the shithole that is Earth.

2158:
Fleet Admiral Eisenhorn and General Perelkina were both assassinated; Rear Admiral Nà Ho-Chen assumed control of Alliance forces and promoted himself to Supreme Commander; the forces of the European Union helped Admiral Drescher seize control of the SSV Everest.

2159:
The Yellowstone supervolcano erupted after being struck during the Alliance’s orbital bombardment, volcanic dust severely impacted the planet’s ecosystem; Supreme Commander Ho-Chen was killed in battle above Planet Earth; the Human Civil War came to an end; the wrecks of Alliance ships burned up in the atmosphere and released dust-form element zero over large swathes of northern Africa and the Middle East, some traveling as far north as Moscow; the reaper ship Nazara approached the geth with an offer of advanced technology in exchange for geth support; this offer caused a schism within the Geth Consensus between those who accepted the offer and those who rejected it.

*At this point, ‘Paragon’ Earth is in even shittier environmental shape than that of OSaBC, which is quite the accomplishment. But there are some benefits, such as a massive reserve of biotic potential.

*UPDATE 2: I’m thinking a minority faction of geth spent more time with and within the quarians during and after the Morning War (small consensuses form different judgments and chose to separate from the full Consensus to become quarians themselves). The majority of the Orthodox Geth continue the process of separate living and the creation of a megastructure (an artificial moon powered by a Dyson swarm).

2160:
The signatories of the Human Systems Alliance Charter amended the treaty to allow for the creation of an Alliance Parliament headed by a Prime Minister; clear separations of power were established; the Alliance military was made subservient to the civilian government under an Alliance President.

*Thus we have the government of OSaBC, minus the noble houses. Still, the Lords of Sol do exist as a facsimile. A high council of governmental and industrial bigwigs that help to direct the Alliance (they are not all-powerful at this point; it’ll take a certain invasion for that to happen).

*Also, since Manswell failed, religion has continued its decline just as in ME canon. Unless you live in Russia, that is.

2161:
Tradius Ahern was born.

**Tradius Ahern once robbed a gun store with a knife.

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2162:
Construction of Arcturus Station finished; sapient alien life was discovered on a garden world orbiting Alpha Centauri; the discovery of a Tier 7 species was met with great debate as the Alliance tried to determine a course of action; the Alliance Parliament declared a system-wide quarantine to allow the species to grow without interference; small research flotillas were authorized to monitor the species’ growth, as well as a small defense flotilla to deter unauthorized ships from entering the system.

*Tier 7 is pre-industrial. This is the same species referenced in the “Cerberus News Daily.”

2163:
David Anderson was born in the London arcology in the United Kingdom; Rachel Florez was born; Saren Arterius was accepted into the turian Spec Ops group, Blackwatch.

2164:
The Zurich Holdfast escape fleet successfully arrived in the Alpha Centauri System, only to discover an Alliance research vessel in orbit of the system’s garden world; the Zurich colonists, only 10% of whom survived the journey, were brought back to Planet Earth to face trial for crimes against humanity; the genetic material stored on the ships was used to help restore depleted or extinct species that were affected by the wars of the past century.

*Victor Manswell was one of the survivors. His execution was broadcast throughout Alliance Space (the US and AC discovered hints of his true crimes when they invaded Luna; solid proof was on the computers of his ship when he was captured).

*‘Genetic material’ refers to all kinds of life found on Earth: plant seeds, fungal spores, animal embryos, and human embryos (as well as human sperm and eggs). All of which was kept on ice until rewilding efforts made reintroduction of species viable. The human material was used to combat the loss of genetic diversity following WWIII and the HCW (Manswell only accepted material from the most gifted and intelligent donors… so, yay?).

2165:
The Alliance debuted the SSV Kilimanjaro as the next generation of dreadnought-type ships; ‘Tiny’ Richards was born.

2166:
The first instance of human biotics was recorded; Tao Paang was born to a woman from Taiwan fifteen years prior; her connection to the Honey Timber Disaster went unrecorded and she was seen as little more than an anomaly.

*She didn’t have a biotic implant, so her abilities were severely limited.

2167:
Steven Hackett was born in the Córdoba arcology in Argentina.

2168:
Kahlee Sanders and Theodor Pellham were born.

2169:
Kai Allard Leng was born.

2170:
As mass effect technology became more prevalent, piracy became a major issue amongst human colonies; the Alliance created the Corsair Initiative to curb the rise of pirate raids; one of the first to join the Corsairs was a young merchant marine named Curtis Taylor; Ronald Taylor was born; Michael Saracino was born.

*Based on the corsairs of College Fool’s “Renegade Reinterpretations,” the original OSaBC and an eternal classic.

2174:
Thousands of children began showing moderate telekinetic abilities; the Alliance Parliament voted to track these unique ‘biotics’; ‘Biotics Acclimation and Temperance Training’ was established by Conatix Industries to track and study human biotics for the Alliance; BAaT facilities were established on Planets Earth and Mars while Conatix moved to purchase Gagarin Station; the Holy Empire of Greater Russia attempted to seize Russian biotics for their own military forces; this led to a lengthy legal battle before the Alliance Supreme Court; the court ruled in favor of Russia, as the Alliance Charter did not delegate responsibility for biotics to the Alliance, but it stipulated that biotics were people deserving all the rights they were due and could not be forced by any entity into a form of slavery.

*Since the Alliance is less autocratic and there is no military/political threat from alien species, Conatix takes a slower, safer path. This all changes with the First Contact War and humanity’s introduction to the galactic stage. Conatix morphs into the bullshit Kaidan mentioned in canon and then goes further until it matches OSaBC (I don’t remember what happened, but I assume it was much more extreme than canon).

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2184:
First contact was made with the raloi.

*First contact by the Citadel, that is. Same time as in canon. By the time of ME1, the raloi are an established Observer Race in good standing.

Raloi:

2185:
First contact was made with the digital shi-lu; the ship’s batteries, which maintained the shi-lu’s digital world, were failing and the ship’s AI was looking for help from the salarians; the Citadel Council decided to allow the battery to expire, but reversed this decision when the shi-lu offered advanced technology in exchange for their assistance; first contact was made with the kirik; Citadel researchers were deployed to determine the relative intelligence and sapience of the kirik; the Systems Alliance discovered the homesystem of the arcaea; the Alliance placed a 15-year moratorium on activating dormant mass relays.

*The virtual aliens mentioned in the “Cerberus Daily News.” Why did I name them ‘shi-lu’? Because reasons.

*The arcaea were exterminated by the turians thousands of years prior. The relay to Turian Space was destroyed, which is why the Hierarchy didn’t continue on and find Earth.

Kirik:

2188:
The Alliance developed the N and S Programs to combat potential threats from the, then unknown, Turian Hierarchy.

2190:
The first class to graduate from the Alliance’s Interplanetary Combatives Training Program (‘N-School’); the N7s made names for themselves fighting pirates and terrorist elements across Alliance Space.

2191:
An underground facility, of alien origin (salarian), was discovered in a crater on the far side of Luna; the AIS, citing both the arcaea homesystem and the alien base on Luna, created an Alliance Black Ops group known as ‘Task Force Cerberus’; Alliance and Cerberus researchers began reverse-engineering the advanced technology.

*Remember that Roswell probe? It was the salarians. The base is centuries old and was fully automated. The Roswell probe was the last one available.

*As for Cerberus being a legitimate Alliance program, that’s from both canon (kind of? It was never very clear) and College Fool’s “Renegade Reinterpretations.”

2195:
The Troubles have morphed into a full-blown insurrection; the Turian Hierarchy was dedicating nearly a quarter of its domestic military forces to crush the rebellion.

2196:
Mannovai Ansilta Got Anna Ipso Solus Mordin (Mordin Solus) was born on Planet Mannovai.

*Mordin’s full name comes from AssaultSloth’s “Interstitium.” Not sure if his full name was ever given in OSaBC.

2197:
Thane Krios was born; first contact was made with the verd-ugo.

*The human population has recovered significantly since WWIII (~6 billion) and now stands at ~11 billion. Contrast this with OSaBC which pegs it at ~9 billion in 2183. If the FCW went down in 2157 (as it usually does), then the pop would be the same as OSaBC. But ‘Paragon’ humanity has been exploding as it colonized the stars, leaving it at the same place as canon humanity (they’ve had ~120 years to repopulate).

*The verd-ugo are an original race that live within Salarian Space. They are cousins to the ke’kchoon (first contact in 1913 CE) and share a common ancestor which was wiped out by the reapers during the time of the arthenn (~300,000 BCE).

Verd-ugo:

Ke’kchoon:

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2200:
A turian navy scout group discovered human scientists attempting to activate Relay 314; the turians destroyed the human vessels which attempted to flee when the turians charged their weapons (standard procedure when boarding a foreign vessel); the First Contact War began; the Turian Hierarchy deployed warships to pacify the human colony of Shanxi; an N7 team hijacked the turian dreadnought Bostra and delivered it to Cerberus R&D; Jack Harper was affected by the Arca Monolith; General Arterius returned to Planet Palaven following the liberation of Planet Shanxi by Alliance forces; General Williams surrendered Planet Shanxi after the Alliance 2nd Fleet was destroyed by turian naval reinforcements; General Williams was taken to an interrogation facility on Palaven’s largest moon, Menae; Inquisitor Uzse Abrudras tortured the General until he gave the Hierarchy the planetary defense codes for Planet Pripyat; Saren Arterius was forced to kill his own brother who had become indoctrinated by the Arca Monolith; Saren was affected by the Monolith much like Harper.

*(First Contact) WAR! WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?!

*Shanxi is another area where OSaBC is silent. Have to wait to update this section. This timeline’s a little too close to canon for my tastes.

2201:
Jack Harper was appointed as the Director of Task Force Cerberus; Cerberus began investing heavily in stealth technology, artificial intelligence, and biotic enhancement research; the Nadezhda System, which contained the colony of Pripyat, was now fully controlled by the Turian Hierarchy; a freighter exploded and spread dust-form element zero over the Vancouver-Seattle dual arcologies.

*Prior to Shanxi, Harper was a merc with few prospects (good, but he wasn’t changing the world). After he gained his nano-augs from the Arca Monolith he became more. A genius and multitasker who could take Cerberus to a new level. Would’ve proven himself capable during the ‘Liberation’ of Shanxi (the Alliance hit the POW camps to liberate who they could). Maybe he managed to wipe out the base or incapacitate the turians during the rescue op. Never thought that part out. Regardless, he impressed the right people and they put him in charge of the Alliance’s version of X-Com.

*Due to the pressures of total war, the Alliance becomes more authoritarian à la the UNSC of the Halo universe.

2202:
The first stable AI was created by Cerberus; the Armament Development Assistance Machine (‘ADAM’) aided Alliance R&D in reverse-engineering prothean, salarian, and turian technology; the AI helped perfect a prototype quantum entanglement communicator and design the Rainier-class dreadnought; Kaidan Alenko was born in Vancouver-Seattle; Saren Arterius was accepted into the Deathwatch.

*ADAM is from “Renegade Reinterpretations.” All prior ‘AIs’ were non-sapient VIs.

*Saren’s nano-augs make him extremely formidable, despite his advanced age (compared to canon).

2203:
The Shadow Flotilla, which was comprised of stealth-corvettes, used conventional FTL to infiltrate Turian Space on a multi-year voyage.

*This is a Hail Mary pass at its finest. Humanity benefits from the QECs it developed which allow for some control, but the Alliance is in the dark until the Flotilla reaches its target. It’s a lot like sending satellites and probes to the outer Sol System today, a lot of waiting and hoping.

2204:
The ‘Blue Silence’ spread across Turian Space as Operation: Ecuyer went into effect.

*Captain Simeon Ecuyer was the motherfucker who gave smallpox blankets to the Indians. Cerberus named the operation in his ‘honor.’ Cerberus created a dextro-specific viral plague (took weeks for the infected to show symptoms) and gave it to turian POWs who later ‘escaped’ and spread the disease throughout Turian Space.

**Tradius Ahern once heard that nothing can kill him, so he tracked down nothing and killed it first.

2205:
The Turian Hierarchy shut down its borders to slow the spread of the Blue Silence; this allowed them to move military assets more freely without bringing attention to their war with humanity; Shepard was born; the Treaty of Farixen was amended when the turians announced the production of ten additional dreadnoughts, bringing the levels from 40>24>8 to 50>30>10.

*At this point, there is little to suggest (publicly) that a dreadnought increase is warranted. This is where the Council starts to take notice (the STG and the Shadow Broker would already know or have an inkling).

2206:
Command Edict 376 went into effect, all human males (age 15+) on Planet Mindoir were systematically executed; the Valkyrie Divisions were founded by the women of Mindoir in response to Command Edict 376; Jeffrey Moreau was born on Arcturus Station.

*This little nugget comes from gtamaster316’s “From Hell’s Heart.” Great story, check it out.

*Side-note: Shouldn’t Joker have an Arcturus accent since he grew up on the station? OSaBC gives these people an Irish-Scot-West Indies dialect. Just a thought.

2207:
The Shadow Flotilla arrived in Turian Space and began using nuclear weapons against military targets; each missile used in the bombardment possessed a minimum explosive yield of ten megatons; the turians were forced to a standstill as they shifted to protect their flank; human warships attacked turian ships as they bottlenecked at the mass relay leading to Turian Space; the Alliance managed to destroy 15% of the Hierarchy’s total active space assets in Alliance Space; the Citadel Council became concerned that the Turian Hierarchy may have bitten off more than they could chew; the Nayctah Schism began when a splinter group formed within the quarian Migrant Fleet; mostly composed of Qilahran quarians, the cultists attempted to steal the liveship Crennae and use it to return to Planet Rannoch without a military escort; after the deaths of over ten thousand quarians, the rebellion was defeated and almost twelve hundred quarians were exiled for treason; the Admiralty Board was forced to step down after it vetoed the Conclave’s decision to pardon the rebels.

*The Nayctah Schism was explored in AssaultSloth’s “Interstitium.” Shala’Raan became an admiral after the veto.

2208:
The turian navy successfully fought through the Charon Relay and laid siege to the Sol System; the outer colonies were destroyed through orbital bombardment; an asari fleet arrived in-system and forced the turians to stand down and leave Human Space; a ceasefire went into effect as diplomats negotiated a peace treaty between the Alliance and Hierarchy, bringing an end to the First Contact War; the High Primarch of Palaven was deposed by Praetor Fedorian Kurthal; Task Force Cerberus went ‘rogue’ following the Armistice, in truth, however, Cerberus continued to act under the discretion of the AIS.

*One of the reasons FCW lasts so long is because the Troubles are a full-blown civil war by that point, with multiple vassal races in open rebellion; the Hierarchy cannot focus on humanity. There’s also the issue of the turian war mindset (I’m not sure how much of this is true in light of the Cerberus Files, been a little while since I read that chapter) which dictates that the turians COMPLETELY control a star system before moving on. This is due to the relative rarity of dextro-based worlds and a need to keep their supply lines protected. They’re also fighting a shadow war and cannot move too quickly or else they’ll draw attention. It wasn’t until the Shadow Flotilla attack that they hit humanity with a blitzkrieg. Also, NOBODY thinks it wasn’t a ‘war,’ the only time anyone mentions the ‘Relay 314 Incident’ is when they talk about start of the conflict.

*UPDATE: LogicalPremise has stated, in his Discord chatroom, that the bezerin and ulongui are canon turian vassal races in OSaBC. Woot woot!

White squares with black lines indicate human controlled systems and relay paths. Black squares with white lines indicate turian control. The red circle is the area hit by the Shadow Flotilla.

Bezerin (face and body):

Untorri (real body and mech suit):

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2209:
Ashley Williams was born on Planet Sirona in the 61 Ursae Majoris System.

*The years at this point are canon+51. In this case, canon!Ashley was born in 2158 (+ 51 = 2209).

2210:
CASAI chose to hire alien mercenaries (krogan mostly) in an attempt to win its perpetual civil war; having violent aliens on Planet Earth allowed the Terra Firma Party to gain a majority of African seats in the Alliance Parliament; Saren Arterius was accepted into the Spectres, becoming the oldest turian (71) to join the group.

*Is there any chance the Alliance would tolerate krogan (and other undesirables) roaming the radiated wastes of the Greater Namib Desert (it’s grown a bit)? Probably not, but krogan are tough to kill.

*As for Saren… again, nano-augs. He’s in prime physical condition and his intellect is near Palavanus levels. The Council would have to be daft (i.e. canon Citadel Council) to pass him up for the Spectres.

2211:
Kasumi Goto was born.

2212:
Tali’Zorah was born on the liveship Rayya; Jack was born on Planet Eden Prime; Mordin Solus joined the salarian Special Tasks Group; the Teltin facility was constructed on Planet Pragia.

2213:
The reaper ship Nazara was discovered near the Perseus Veil by a batarian aristocrat named Edan Had’dah; Miranda Lawson was artificially created by Henry Lawson as a prototype to Project NOVENSILES.

Batarian:

I include this picture because I prefer the concept art to the final product. It reminds me of the ithorians of Star Wars. A head that’s flat and wide, and most importantly, alien. The final product was a little too humanoid for my tastes.

2214:
The Leviathan of Dis was discovered by the batarians on Planet Jartar; the Leviathan disappeared after the arrival of a batarian dreadnought within the Dis System; the Batarian Hegemony denied the existence of the Leviathan and secretly spread rumors of an organic dreadnought (the rumors helped to mystify and discredit the Leviathan’s existence); Cerberus established Project Doorway and produced forged Council-standard medicards and identitags to allow operatives unrestricted movement.

2216:
The Human Systems Alliance was granted an embassy on the Citadel; ‘Subject Zero’ was acquired at the age of four on Planet Eden Prime and sent to the Teltin Facility on Planet Pragia; David Anderson and Tradius Ahern were offered the opportunity to become the first human Spectres; Ahern turned down the offer; Anderson was denied Spectre-status after Saren Arterius sabotaged the mission and blamed him for the failure; first contact was made with the moluvir; the yahg homeworld of Parnack was quarantined by the Citadel Council after Council ambassadors were massacred by the aggressive yahg.

**During his Spectre evaluation, Tradius Ahern threw a grenade and killed 50 people… then it exploded.

*The moluvir live on the border of Human and Salarian Space. Enormous sapient caterpillars and terrific builders (provided construction assistance during the Reaper War in exchange for a hidden colony world).

Moluvir (the Eldest):

2217:
First contact was made with the firuun; a volus trading freighter crashed on an uncharted world and was discovered by the synthetic firuun; the firuun killed the survivors and disassembled the freighter; the Citadel Council declared the firuun homesystem off-limits, but an official quarantine was not possible as Firuun Space existed within the Terminus Systems.

*The firuun are based on the AVIDA from popcornfairy’s “Cold Storage.” In that story, Earth was hit with a solar flare and humanity went into cryo to sleep off the radiation. Their VI caretakers evolved into the AVIDA AIs who continue to care for and protect them. The firuun are the same, except their creators died centuries ago and the VIs went kinda nuts (and they never evolved into full AIs). Now they’re like homicidal Roombas that’ll kill anything foreign to keep the world pristine.

Firuun:

2218:
Garrus Vakarian joined Citadel Security.

2219:
Cerberus established Project Trapdoor; using the front corporation New Dawn Pharmaceuticals, the drug omega-enkaphalin (O-E) was developed to disrupt the powers of biotics; Cerberus personnel were nanosurgically altered to resist O-E.

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2220:
Planet Mindoir was attacked by batarian slavers; Major Kyle and Lieutenant Zabaleta coordinated Alliance forces and drove out the batarians; the human AIS, working with the salarian STG, determined that most of the abducted colonists (40% of the capital city) were sent to the slave auction houses in the [somewhere near the Terminus border; Aria prepares to intercede; batarian core worlds would be too well defended]; the Council attempted to negotiate the release of the colonists, but the batarians refused, citing cultural rights protections and denying any culpability in the colonial raid; the Alliance Parliament voted unanimously to pursue war with the Batarian Hegemony; the Skyllian Campaigns began; the Severing Rebellion occurred amongst the Migrant Fleet; a dozen quarian captains attempted to defect to Aria T’Loak’s crime syndicate; the rebels were quickly defeated and exiled to the Terminus Systems.

*1.5 million humans were enslaved. Colonist!Shepard would have been taken.

*Exiled quarians don’t have ships, so even though they’re in the Terminus like they wanted, they have NO power or clout at all. Just more suit-rats.

2221:
The Alliance launched a special forces raid on Planet [???]; a third of the Mindoir colonists were rescued; first contact was made with the kry’aike; the kry’aike responded violently when they realized that the humans and batarians were fighting over Kry’aike Space; the Alliance agreed to respect kry’aike borders; the Hegemony was less tolerant and found itself at war with the kry’aike as well.

*The kry’aike are basically the drones (yanme’e) from the Halo universe. They maintain a small empire on the edge of the Skyllian Verge. They use mass effect repulsor implants to allow for flight.

*500,000 of the Mindoir slaves were freed. Colonist!Shepard would’ve been amongst them.

Kry’aike:

2222:
The Teltin Facility went rogue and increased the severity of the experiments; the Batarian Hegemony authorized the destruction of two human colonies in the Skyllian Verge through asteroid strikes; in retaliation, the Alliance initiated the March of the Verge and began attacking numerous batarian colonies in the Verge with orbital bombardment; the Council forced a ceasefire between the Alliance and Hegemony; both sides faced censure for violations of the Citadel Conventions, but humanity was permitted to maintain control of the Skyllian Verge, including annexed batarian colonies; the Batarian Hegemony closed its embassy on the Citadel in protest and became a rogue state; many sanctions on the Alliance were lifted to prevent a recession throughout the galactic economy and to maintain tax revenue levels without the Hegemony.

*The Council allowed the Alliance to annex the batarian worlds because the Hegemony had become such a pariah and their destruction of two worlds was so complete that they were rendered completely uninhabitable.

These worlds would have had significant batarian populations (and their slaves) which raises the question of what to do with them. Citizenship? Doubtful. Genocide? It’s actually ‘xenocide,’ and a big no to that. Expulsion? That one’s the most likely, kick ‘em back to the Terminus (which now includes the Hegemony). Slaves are returned to their respective species governments, while the slave owners develop a nasty habit of attacking Alliance soldiers unprovoked… [whistles innocently]

*Another 40,000 Mindoir slaves were freed. Now, obviously, they wanted to free the rest… but the Hegemony wasn’t a pushover. Everyone in Citadel Space knew that the Alliance would win the war if fought to the finish, but the casualties and loss of military hardware made it unfeasible. There was also the issue of the Hegemony officially leaving Citadel Space and de facto joining the Terminus Systems. The attack on [???] nearly brought Aria into the fight and the Council is NOT cool with that. So ~60,000 humans are left to serve alien masters until death… plus their children.

This led to even greater military expenditures and the issuance of numerous (secret) Letters of Marque and Reprisal to the Corsairs. Cerberus operations also would have focused on hindering pirate attacks.

2223:
ExoGeni founded a colony on Planet Feros and discovered a thoi’han which called itself the ‘Thorian’; in exchange for human thralls (rejects from the Alliance Penal Legions), the Thorian assisted the Alliance in decoding the Mars Archives; Turian Councilor Nyreen Kandros was forced to step down when her biotics manifested themselves in public.

*I know this doesn’t work in OSaBC, given that Sparatus has been in power for 20+ years, but I like the idea of having her in this position. In ~2219 she was chosen to replace Councilor Yetras Mantha who had replaced Councilor Hadriac after he was forced to step down in 2208 for conduct unbecoming (flinging insults and declaring that there would be no peace until humanity was in chains; the asari and salarians disagreed).

Nyreen’s parent/guardian/mentor was the turian ambassador to Thessia. Nyreen spent time there (in-between boot camp and active duty) visiting and eventually collected enough eezo in her body to manifest biotics. She kept it hidden, but was forced to use them in public to defend herself (maybe against the batarian terrorist plot in “Mass Effect Galaxy”; Did those events even happen in OSaBC? I don’t recall Jacob Taylor ever mentioning it in TWCD).

2226:
Alliance High Command discovered the activities of Cerberus’s Teltin Facility after receiving a report from whistleblower Niket Bhatnagar; Teltin initiated a purge in an attempt to destroy the evidence before the Alliance could find it; the subjects rebelled as they were led to the labs to be euthanized; the resulting riot allowed Subject Zero to break containment; a Cerberus strike team, led by the Odd Couple, found the facility in chaos; Teltin personnel were rounded up and executed in front of the surviving subjects; the surviving subjects were returned to Alliance Space; residual data was used to create the Teltin Procedures; Vido Santiago betrayed Zaeed Massani and assumed complete control of the Blue Suns.

*The Teltin Procedures were used by the Alliance in College Fool’s “Renegade Reinterpretations” as a means of artificially boosting biotic capability (learned through tests on Subject Zero). The procedures are effective, but have debilitating long-term repercussions, such as dementia and neural decay near internal eezo concentrations.

*I don’t have an official backstory for the tergum at this time. However, I could cannibalize the backstory for the oma/oma’nan (another race of mine). Circa 500 BCE, solar output from the stars of the oma homesystem had increased significantly. The oma began experimenting with mechanical augmentation to survive. Later they use nano-augs to create an augmented collective consciousness between a dozen augmented oma; this marked the birth of the oma’nan. Not long after, the smallest sun collided with the main sun and the resulting coronal ejection bathed the oma homeworld in radiation. Only the dozen oma’nan survived. Centuries later, the oma’nan began exploring and tapped into the Extranet. They received requests for asylum from rogue blue box AIs and agreed to host them (the oma’nan act as elders and judges who guide, but do not rule). The oma’nan homeworld, M4-78, hosts the largest population of independent AIs outside Geth Space (the AIs collectively refer to themselves as oma’nan). Like the geth, they are EXTREMELY reclusive. Most organics don’t even know they exist.

Also, is that what happens when a small star is swallowed by a large star (which is expanding due to excess dark energy buildup)?

Oma’nan (elder/judge):

2230:
In retaliation for the Skyllian Blitz, the Alliance launched the Torfan Offensive; the Butcher of Torfan led a team of Marines against the batarians on the moon of Torfan; two-thirds of the Butcher’s forces were listed as KIA.

2232:
Captain Kirrahe led an STG group to Planet Tuchanka to release a modified Genophage strain that was developed by Professor Mordin Solus; Solus took part in the operation and retired from the STG afterward; Solus traveled to Omega Station and opened a free clinic.

2233:
The Human Systems Alliance and Turian Hierarchy began joint construction of a state-of-the-art stealth-frigate; the vessel was christened the SSV Normandy SR1.

*Prior to this, humans were the only ones with access to IES stealth technology.

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2234:
Saren Arterius and Benezia T’Soni attacked Planet Eden Prime shortly after a prothean beacon was discovered there; Lieutenant-Commander Shepard became the first human Spectre; after becoming a Spectre, Shepard was promoted to full commander within the Alliance; Saren was killed on Planet Noveria; the reaper ship Nazara attempted to manually open the Citadel Relay; Benezia sacrificed herself at the Citadel to stop the reapers; Nazara was destroyed; humanity and the quarians (who joined the attack against Nazara and the geth) were granted seats on the Citadel Council; Shepard chose Donnel Udina to be the Human Councilor; Shepard was promoted to Major of the Marines and given command of a small strike force; Major Shepard was killed in a collector attack; Cerberus recovered Shepard’s body from P. and the Shadow Broker and began Project Revenant; Captain Jason Delacor became humanity’s second Spectre; the collectors began abducting human colonies in the Terminus Systems; the first case of the Omega Plague on Omega Station was cited.

*Here’s a map of the galaxy at the start of ME1. NOTE: Areas in the Attican Traverse that are colored for a Citadel species mean only that that species is in the majority. It does not denote authority for the species’ home government or the Citadel Council. Additionally, Geth Space is a catch-all term for what used to be Quarian Space. The geth don’t colonize beyond the Perseus Veil, but everyone avoids the region like a plague… for obvious reasons.

2235:
Cerberus established Project Overlord as a means to control the Geth Consensus; the Treaty of Farixen was amended when the turians announced the production of ten additional dreadnoughts, bringing the levels from 50>30>10 to 60>36>12; the tergum began aiding Alliance R&D in weapons and technology research; Major Jeremy Ross joined the Spectres; Ross was killed during his first joint Spectre operation against the geth.

*Project Overlord pending further information. I suspect it’ll be a Hades-run operation, not Cerberus.

2236:
Shepard was revived by Cerberus; the VI-hybrid from Project Overlord went rampant; Heretic Station was destroyed and the Heretic Geth were severely weakened; Shepard shutdown the Overlord and sent David Archer to Grissom Academy; the Omega Plague was cured; Shepard destroyed the Collector Base and ended the Collector War; Cerberus established Project Mia to research collector technology; Liara T’Soni became the new Shadow Broker; Cerberus established Project Phoenix to enhance human biotic abilities.

*Most of this is simply rehashed canon, since TWCD is still in production. BOLD text is likely to be revised in the future.

*The ME2 ending in this case is based heavily on College Fool’s “Lanius.”

2237:
The Geth War came to an end as the Heretics were destroyed and the Council and Orthodox Geth agreed to a secret ceasefire; the Alliance introduced the Krakatoa-class dreadnought based on reverse-engineered collector and reaper technology; Dr. Amanda Kenson was tasked with studying reaper technology within the Bahak System’s asteroid belt; Yonis Chu destroyed the Alpha Relay.

*I agree with College Fool that the Geth Consensus must remain free of corruptive influence if there is to be peace with the quarians (Heretic Geth never cared for organics to begin with and never forgave the Migrant Fleet quarians for the Morning War). This makes it vital to destroy the Heretics outright, not brainwash them.

I’d also like to point out that Heretic runtimes were not hacked by Nazara, they joined voluntarily and serve as an independent force. After Heretic Station, however, the remaining programs are purged and replaced with reaper code.

2238:
The Second Human-Batarian War began; Planet Earth fell to the reaper armada; the Illusive Man blackmailed the Council into granting him Spectre-status; this effectively cemented a Cerberus-Alliance alliance and legalized Cerberus’s past, present, and future activities; the Conduit was used to transport human refugees from Planet Earth to the Citadel; Shepard led a team to Planet Tuchanka to release a cure to the Genophage; they were opposed by Cerberus and STG forces; after releasing the cure, Shepard fought reaper!Kalros; the Normandy was damaged in the fight against reaper!Kalros and forced to go to drydock at the Citadel; Planet Khar’shan fell to the reapers; the Second Human-Batarian War came to an end.

*BOLD text is likely to be revised in the future.

*When Kalros wraps around the reaper destroyer, she gets stabbed by dozens of nanite pikes (dragon’s teeth). The reaper reconfigured them to act as a final shot as it was dragged beneath the irradiated soil. It took several hours to convert the maw into a husk (reaper!Kalros removed the reaper destroyer’s oculus and attached it to its head).

Reaper!Kalros:

2239:
Shepard aided Aria T’loak and Nyreen Kandros in retaking Omega Station; Aria was killed during the liberation and Nyreen assumed control; once Omega was secure, refugees were encouraged to leave the Citadel and seek refuge on Omega (alleviating the crowded Wards); the Migrant Fleet invaded Geth Space; the geth received reaper upgrade codes as part of a deal with the reapers for protection from the attacking quarians; the reapers assumed total control of geth processes and used them as shock troopers; Shepard helped to free the geth from reaper control; Admiral Han’Gerrel was killed above Planet Rannoch; the geth and quarians declared a truce and allied against the reapers; the Leviathan of Dis, which called itself ‘Pariah,’ was resurrected and joined the fight against the reapers; Planet Khar’shan was irradiated with a miniature Crucible (Pariah’s heart); 20+ capital ships were killed as a result; the remnants of the Batarian Hegemony Navy joined forces with the Alliance to combat the reapers.

*The mini-Crucible was an idea in the BioWare forum (also posted here) for a Khar’shan-based DLC. Shepard goes there to shut down the Cannibal factories and recruit the batarians. End choice involves detonating the mini-crucible or not. This determines if the batarians join (and later reform their government) or not. Here, it would be the Odd Couple (plus Brooks and Rasa, maybe; Enzo? Petrovsky has overall command?) shutting them down and accidently releasing Pariah.

*The Omega DLC had an issue with the story, Nyreen’s death. Who honestly thinks Aria’s ‘redemption’ worked? I didn’t, and I’m not alone. In Dean_the_Young’s Cerberus=frenemies post, the Omega DLC is changed. It is recast as a choice between Aria, Nyreen, and Petrovsky. Dialogue choices determine if Aria or Nyreen die (Paragon choices force Shepard to leave with Nyreen when she leaves the group; Renegade choices follow canon). Here, Nyreen takes control of Omega and Aria is dead.

2240:
The Citadel was captured by reaper forces and transported to Planet Earth; the Citadel Council was killed during the attack; Pariah sacrificed itself to destroy Harbinger, allowing Shepard to reach the London Conduit; Sword Fleet jumped out of system to avoid the effect of the Crucible; the Crucible was activated and the Darkness entered the universe and wiped it clean of all active reaper technology; the Reaper War came to an end.

*BOLD text is likely to be revised in the future.

**Tradius Ahern technically died during the liberation of Earth, but the Grim Reaper still hasn’t worked up the courage to tell him.

*Here’s a graph of the human population from 1950 to 2250. The numbers on the left denote the number of humans in billions.

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Logical Premise wrote:

Why adjust it? If you want the more conventional geth view that’s also fine.

Thank you, and it’s a fair point. One of my biggest failings is a linear mindset, I have an incredibly difficult time changing canon material in any truly fundamental way. However, this thought-process makes it very easy to combine different ideas in a sensible manner with as few plot holes as possible.

But the problem is that I consider OSaBC canon and thus I need to work around it. Humanity has changed, the galaxy is the same (ignoring all the add-ons like extra races and such, so maybe this is just another change). I need to explain the divergence in the Geth Consensus on a fundamental.

*NOTE: I added an additional note in 2159 giving a broad explanation for the divergence of geth.

Dreadnoughts – Immediate signing of the Treaty of Farixen (amended in 2205); Alliance agrees in principle, but refuses to decommission dreadnoughts already in service; Council allows the Alliance to mothball excess dreadnoughts at Arcturus Station; Council inspectors are allowed access to ensure the ships remain in confirmed non-active status; diplomatic tensions rise as the Alliance continues to produce three new dreadnoughts to replace the three non-Rainier-class dreadnoughts that remain in the fleet; the Council allows them to replace their ships, but forbids them from producing new dreadnoughts afterward per the Treaty of Farixen

AI Technology – Alliance agrees to place additional shackles upon active AIs (with their consent); the rest are housed in a secure bunker on Mars while the Council determines their safety; those that reject confinement are deactivated

Buffer Zone – the Alliance demanded control of the star system that contained the relay connecting to Turian Space; the Turian Hierarchy agrees to cede the Aranus Cluster (now known as the Mjölnir Cluster) to the Alliance; Alliance is required to keep Relay 314 offline and allow Council inspectors to confirm its status per the Maskim Xul Treaty

Dormant Relays – Alliance agrees to ratify the Maskim Xul Treaty banning the activation of dormant primary mass relays

Turian War Crimes / Skyllian Verge – in exchange for dropping their demand for trials of turian ‘war criminals’ (those who only followed orders; those who gave the orders (POW commanders) are detained by the Alliance pending trial; those who acted counter to turian honor, and were never captured, were detained by the Hierarchy), the Alliance is allowed to colonize the Skyllian Verge; the Alliance is not actually given ownership of the Verge, the Council simply promises not to contest any Alliance claims to the region; this is done to both placate humanity and force them into conflict with the Batarian Hegemony; it also provides the Council with a new buffer state which can use its military strength to stabilize an unstable region; this also prevents the Alliance from being a threat to Citadel Space because its forces will be bogged down

Observer and Associate Statuses – Alliance granted immediate observer status to Citadel Space; Council agrees to Alliance demand of associate status and an embassy in no more than ten years

Spectres – Alliance agrees to recognize the authority of Council Spectres; Council unofficially agrees to bar turian Spectres from Human Space until after the Alliance is granted an embassy on the Citadel; turian Spectres generally avoid Human Space even after they are granted an embassy to avoid enflaming racial tensions

Use of WMDs – Alliance ratifies the Citadel Conventions in exchange for Council forgiveness of WMD use on garden worlds during the war; the Alliance agrees to decommission 30% of its nuclear arms, but refuses to decommission the rest as requested

Corsairs – Alliance agrees to disband the Corsairs; general amnesty given to those who retire; Letters of Marque and Reprisal are revoked and Corsair Lagoons are closed

*Didn’t mention this in the timeline, but the Corsairs played havoc on turian supply lines during the war. They also used terrorist-like attacks against turian targets, including dirty-bombs and FTL collisions.

Chemical and Biological Weapons – Alliance is sanctioned for use of chemical and biological weapons; Alliance reinstates the ban on chemical and biological weapons (the ban was suspended during the war); current stockpiles are decommissioned and incinerated

Reparations and Indemnities – Alliance agrees to pay reparations to victims of the Blue Silence in exchange for turian reparations for civilians targeted during the war (specifically Planet Mindoir); neither group is willing to pay accumulated interest on the reparations (resolution determinant of whether the Council was saved or not)

Shadow Flotilla – Council demands the court-martial of all members of the Shadow Flotilla (including Alliance brass who sanctioned Operation: Shadow Strike); Alliance keeps the flotilla hidden in the Attican Traverse; Council demands access to stealth technology; Alliance refuses and denies possessing the technology (despite STG evidence to the contrary)

POWs – Turian Hierarchy demanded sanctions due to the majority of turian POWs starving to death; Council declines due to evidence that the Alliance attempted to treat the POWs humanely, but lacked access to dextro-based rations

Transhumanism – Alliance agrees to Council bans on extensive genetic and cybernetic augmentation; Council agrees to extend universal amnesty to pre-Armistice transhumans

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Anti-matter Reactors – humanity was the first species in Citadel Space to safely mass-produce anti-matter reactors; most species made due with fusion reactors; anti-matter is an exceptional power source, especially in powering starships

IES Stealth Systems – the first successful ship-based stealth system in Citadel Space; heatsinks within the hull capture radiant heat from the engines, making the ship invisible to modern heat-based sensors; the first prototype stealth ship was the Cerberus-built Cyclops stealth-fighter

Hyperion Mech – while piloted mechs already existed, the humans introduced an extremely economical design that could be mass-produced; while not particularly powerful or resilient, the Hyperion could be fielded in overwhelming numbers

M35 Mako Tank – Alliance engineers combined the capabilities of the M29 Grizzly with mass effect repulsors; this allowed the Alliance to airdrop heavy reinforcements

Nanulak Shuttle – Cerberus reverse-engineered the turian-built Klixon troop-transport to produce the more versatile Nanulak

Omni-Blade – Cerberus recovered dozens of omni-tools from turian casualties; the omni-blade is a disposable silicon-carbide blade, flash-forged by an omni-tool’s mini-fabricator; turian soldiers relied on physical knives (‘talons’) and were unprepared for the superior omni-blades

Stable AI – humanity was one of only two known species (the other being the kadeci) to successfully create stable artificial intelligences; the most notable AI was the Armament Development Assistance Machine (ADAM) which aided in the development of many Alliance wartime innovations; the Alliance is required by treaty to shackle all AIs currently in service and refrain from producing any new AIs

*The kadeci are an original race living in the Attican Traverse near Asari Space. They took inspiration from the quarians and built the mutaru (basically shackled geth) to serve and wage war. In 1966 CE they invaded Raszga Space and drew the ire of the asari. The kadeci and their machines were forced back by the turians the following year. A ceasefire is in effect, but the kadeci have stated an intention to invade in the future (it’s a cultural/religious thing).

Kadeci:

Mutaru:

Raszga:

Thermal Clips – heatsinks are used to collect excess weapon heat; this ‘limited ammunition’ was viewed as disadvantageous, but empirical evidence suggested that consistent fire was superior to unregulated overheating; this was especially true for ship-based weapons, this allowed human ships to continue firing longer and faster than comparable turian ships which were forced to stop due to overheating; thermal clips became the galactic standard shortly after humanity was granted an embassy on the Citadel

Quantum Entanglement Communication – the Alliance was the first group to successfully mass-produce QECs; QECs were used during Operation: Shadow Strike to coordinate the nuclear bombardment

Androids – autonomous units have become ubiquitous in human society and are often seen performing menial or dangerous work; turian androids (controlled by a master AI) were utilized by Cerberus during the defense of Planet Nouveau Afrique

Carriers – carriers have always been a part of the Alliance Navy, but are considered an innovation as humanity was the only species known to develop such a vessel; carriers are dreadnought-size ships which act as mobile naval ports housing hundreds of fighters, interceptors, and bombers

Soul Catcher – expanding on dream catcher technology developed a decade prior, the Alliance was able to record thoughts onto a physical medium; soul catcher technology was miniaturized and implanted within the human skull as a ‘graybox’ after the war; the Council moved to outlaw the technology, but was never able to reach a consensus on the matter; soul catchers remain legal, but underutilized; grayboxes were outlawed by the Council

Trojan Merchantmen – military ships disguised as (or built from) civilian merchant ships; the famous corsair Captain Curtis Taylor used a Trojan, called the Aquila, in his campaign against frontier pirates; while the use of Trojan ships was not unheard of, batarian slavers used the technique heavily with civilian ships faking distress calls, the use of such (heavily-armed) Trojan vessels in a frontline war was

Eclipse Cannons – GTS cannons are commonplace for planetary defense, but the Alliance managed to scale up the design to dreadnought-specification; the first deployment of the eclipse cannon was on the moon of Prévoyance in orbit around Nouveau Afrique; Prévoyance was tidally locked and provided the perfect observation post of Nouveau Afrique; turian ships were decimated by the cannons before turian special forces shut them down; planetary collateral damage was kept to a minimum due to the use of disintegrator rounds

Disintegrator Rounds – specially designed cannon ammunition which would break apart and burn up in atmosphere; this innovation was designed in the aftermath of the Human Civil War and allowed for dreadnoughts to fire on ships in orbit of garden worlds without having to worry about impacting the planet; DI rounds remain solid until they impact with something, such as a ship hull or planetary atmosphere; DI rounds became standard in Citadel Space after the war

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