W h a t R e m a i n s
Even after a great war, peace remains unsustainable...
It's been four years since the legendary Commander John Shepard, human Spectre and Officer of the Alliance Navy, dealt the final blow to the Reaper invasion. By using the Crucible, all synthetic life was destroyed in order to put an end to the cataclysmic cycle that had ravaged the galaxy for what felt like an eternal process. Such a move sent a shockwave across the galaxy and put the order of galactic politics, society and conflict at a complete standstill. The Reapers were gone, as were the Geth, and everything seemed to go silent for a while. The Mass Effect relays were damaged in the process of final victory, and the last three years were dedicated to repairing and reactivating all surviving nodes of intersystem travel. Come the end of the third year, the natural order of the galaxy's original state returned in theory, yet nothing was ever to be the same again.
If one thing is for sure, then it goes without saying that the Reaper Invasion left a traumatising mark on all sentient life. Homeworlds had been brutalised. Planets had been wiped clean. Entire colonies had disappeared without a trace. The loss of life was all but ghastly. Human, Turian, Salarian and Asari militaries were devastated by the fighting, whilst non-council species differed in devastation. There was no real natural order of life anymore. Some species, such as the Batarians, were whittled down to as little as fifty-thousand survivors. Large swathes of galactic space had been reduced to echoes and silence. There was no great relief the moment Shepard pulled the trigger on the extinction cycle. Many had no real clue of what to do next. Bureaucratic stagnation returned to folly in the wake of billions killed. Repair and recovery coordination was admirable at best, and lopsided, disjointed and failing at others.
The Citadel and its Council fell into an identity crisis. Some ambassadors made large for enacting normalcy to a galaxy that could barely resemble it. Others called for great reformation, some even devolved into demands for reparations in a sea of debt-struck citizens. There was never quite the happy ending as once heralded by the countless news networks throughout the war, but at the very least, life lived on without having been harvested once more. Despite this, countless threats still plagued Citadel Space, from within and from the reaches of the Terminus System, or throughout the desolate wastelands left ravaged by the invasion. Civil conflict, those who see others unfit for leadership, sits as a close prospect in many systems. That universal unification of all life fritters whilst some fall to insecurity in the face of annihilation. It seems that the sudden revoke of the apocalypse set in motion a grand disturbance throughout. But at the very least, there remains hope among those that wish to persist with the aftermath seen by their saviours. It is simply a test to see whether said ideals come to fruition, or if they die in the ever-changing galaxy.
C a u g h t I n A L a n d s l i d e
...for the guns stop firing only when they need to reload.
Mass Effect: Intervention is to follow crewmembers of the SSV-Intervention, an Alliance vessel leased to the Citadel that was constructed from 'Andromeda Initiative' ship designers back in 2184. The Intervention is captained by one Te'yany Janniius, an Asari put in command of one of many new ships in the name of the Citadel's centralised military endeavours, beyond that of system-by-system policing by the Turian Empire and Systems Alliance. A new doctrine, inspired by the actions of the SSV-Normandy, has set out a number of autonomous companies who's intent is to provide flexible and effective military force between the cracks that formed in the damaged fleets' coverage. Though a licensed design in Alliance hands, the ships authority lies on the Citadel, and thus a range of races and species are found on board the ship. The Intervention is a relatively new vessel, having ran only several exercises and a few missions since its construction. Finally, it is to be bathed in baptism. The crew has been fully assembled. And with it comes its first task.
After the conclusion to the Reaper Invasion, it was easy to forget another major foe that still lurked in and out of Citadel space. Cerberus, the fanatic human organisation, remains, though much of its physical strength has been reduced to atoms. The death of the Illusive Man drew what many hoped would be the fatal strike to the group, however it served more to break the limbs of the beast than to sever its head. Cerberus remains out there. Their goals are once more uncertain, though the Citadel Council are more than eager to shut down any instances of its existence. Any cells and outposts that are discovered are immediately met with detainment or elimination. Ships like the Intervention specialise in removing these threats. Most recently, Cerberus activity was picked up on Virmire, in the Sentry Oemga, far into the remnant lands of lost battles. The assignment has been left to the Intervention to investigate the reports, and to either detain, disrupt or destroy any presence found.
H e l l o !
And welcome!
Hey-ho! I've been sitting on wanting to do a Mass Effect thing for a long while but only have now had the proper drive to go ahead and put one together. And after a few discussions with some, it's been decided to set this in the aftermath of the Reaper Invasion, in which the household name of Shepard has successfully destroyed the invasion's progress, as well as synthetic life in the process. This scenario is to, as guessed, focus on a slowly expanding story that starts at a small scale level and may eventually continue upward toward a more larger threat, though not quite to the scale of the aforementioned invasion. Though another Mass Effect game has been confirmed, it's still all but good fun to try and paint a picture of what the post-credits galaxy would look like. Is there lasting peace? Does the unity break away? And what of remnant factions, the large loss of life and the enduring trauma that has come with the end of the invasion? Perhaps we'll answer these questions, perhaps we'll simply stick to our crew and perhaps we'll create new perspectives along the way.
Enter the crew of the Intervention: a militarised ship design under the orders of the Citadel's recently formed 'Security Fleet'. Whilst many council members lick their wounds and attempt to rebuild their places in the galactic sphere, those in the central commanding seats have put us, the crew, in the position of doing what they believe needs to be done: restore peace. Or something like that. Either way, this crew is set to be a collective of personnel, old and young, veteran and rookie, hopeful and cynical, on a mission that begins quite straightforward. From humans to turians, quarians to asari, salarians to krogan, drell and batarians, we'll see a mixed and diverse group pieced together by purpose. Survivors of the reaper invasion, those who lost their own to the chaos, the fresh and the strong - all have come under different circumstances to serve aboard the Intervention. Here's to hoping we can put together an emotional journey, whether large or small, where rivalries are born, romances bud, friendships begin and tragedies strike. Who knows, we might even have our own Citadel DLC waiting for us there too?
Thanks for reading the check! If you have any questions or just have a bit of interest, just drop yourself in the thread! I'll be happy to discuss any ideas you have as well, so feel free to shoot them my way. Hope to see you here, and hopefully we can make something great and fun out of this! : D
