Mass Effect Story Ideas

The Eromancer

Well-Known Member
#51
I would like to see a Babylon 5 / Mass Effect crossover with Sheppard as a psychic.

Or since I was watching <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Aliens' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Ancient Aliens</a> how about we go with the idea that YES, our early history WAS helped out by ancient aliens, specifically the Prothean.

Now story wise they did study us, that's canon. But lets say we actually go a bit (a lot) more in depth with it. Say our entire history is shaped by a select few Protheans prodding us along towards the galactic stage.

Why? I'd like that to be a toss up to the reader actually, my personal take on it would be to say we were made for war, we breed fast, we live hard, we fight to live even harder and god forbid you put our backs against the wall.

Or last and least of all one simple idea: What if humans accidentally overlooked the Mars Prothean ruins, what if we finally arrived on the Galactic scene ONLY AFTER the reapers cleansed all the current citadel races?
 

Kibbles

Well-Known Member
#52
The Eromancer said:
Or last and least of all one simple idea: What if humans accidentally overlooked the Mars Prothean ruins, what if we finally arrived on the Galactic scene ONLY AFTER the reapers cleansed all the current citadel races?
We'd get exterminated with the rest of them? The Reapers hit everything 20th century or equivalent and later during a cycle (usually leaving those races for last since ... what are they going to do?). They're not stupid enough to give a race a few thousand years of free development time.

And, yes, it's referenced in-game. Some of those mysteriously dead worlds were hit before they even got into space.

I am so very tempted to write a story now where humans don't get the Prothean cache and build their own tech and their own society ... and then, BAM, Reapers. Everbody's dead, Dave.
 

kelenas

Well-Known Member
#53
Well, the Reapers apparently left the Asari well enough alone, even though they'd already begun to develop civilization (though with a shitload of covert Prothean help), including writing, mathematics and whatnot, even though it should've put them on the Reaper's eradication-list. If Humanity had been at a low technology level (bronze or early iron age, for example) it's possible we simply might have been overlooked, especially if the Relay in our system would have still been inactive.

So, I suppose it's possible the Reapers might overlook us, and we enter the Galactic stage ~1000-2000 years after they're done with the Cycle. Which would mean there's a decent chance relics of the previous Cycle's struggle against the Reapers might still be around, and Humanity might have some tens of thousands of years to prepare.

Frankly, though, it's not a story I'd read, because it'd mean that which makes Mass Effect interesting, in my opinion, namely the different races and their characters - Liara and the Asari, Wrex and the Krogans, Garrus and the Turians, Tali and the Quarians, etc - would be gone.

An alternative which might have a similar effect without getting rid of the established ME-races would be if the Protheans decided to start uplifting Humanity either in place of, or in addition to, the Asari.

Btw, Kibbles, how's your ME/Dragonstar story coming along?

- Kelenas
 

Kibbles

Well-Known Member
#54
kelenas said:
An alternative which might have a similar effect without getting rid of the established ME-races would be if the Protheans decided to start uplifting Humanity either in place of, or in addition to, the Asari.
They did, didn't they? Or, at least, it's implied that they set things up, albeit following a different school of intervention. Let the humans get to Mars first before the Archive pops up ... although there was the issue of language barrier which prevented development of new tech by the Alliance, though it was still faster than Asari pace.

Btw, Kibbles, how's your ME/Dragonstar story coming along?

- Kelenas
Slowly, exams have been ramping up, and I really don't want to break another record. I've already got the shortest failed oral exam ever record (three years running, five words total) and the record in failing written exams by a single point (two in a row, same exam) ... I'd really like it not to be a third in a row.

Otherwise, I'm stuck trying to catch up on my third edition. Can't have wizards firing spells from, say, Pathfinder ... as amusing as Time Stop and three Contingencies would be. Well, that and I found myself on the border of actually wargaming the combat in an attempt to keep it semi-realistic, as well as trying to fill in some blanks that are requried by plot to occur.

The good news is that the plot is, basically, finished (albeit in skeletal form), all the way up to the battle of the Citadel where I plan to end the first one if I ever get that far. Several scenes as well, though they're rather fragmentary.
 

kelenas

Well-Known Member
#55
Not really, at least not in my opinion. While it's somewhat strange the archive on Mars contains information about something like the Crucible if it really were just a scientific outpost, it's possible the Protheans simply copied the data about it everywhere they could, in the hopes that at least some of those copies might survive this way.

There certainly is no indicator the Protheans had any active hand in Human development the way they had with the Asari, which IMO makes for an interesting 'What If' scenario.
After all, which would make for a better servant-race/cannon-fodder for a reborn Prothean Empire; the mind-melding biotic powerhouses with milennia-long lifespans... or the short-lived, non-biotic, non-telepathic and generally non-remarkable apes?

The former, after all, might at some time rise to challenge the leadership of the Prothean master-race, but the silly apes would obviously never be capable of such a feat. :sisi:

(Honestly, with the revelation from ME3 the Asari became incredibly lame. They basically had the Protheans holding their hands and serving them their knowledge on a silver platter, and they still barely managed to beat the Salarians into space.)

Regarding your exams I wish you good luck. It's good to hear the basic frame for the story is finished, though. I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

- Kelenas
 
#56
Stargate ftl travel is much better than Mass Effect in terms of fuel and speed. There is also various transporter technologies such as rings and the Asgard transporters. The Mass Effect universe seems to have much more prevalent use of personal shielding and cloaking technology. I am not sure how the weapons technology compares between the universes.
 

Leonite

Well-Known Member
#57
kelenas said:
Shepard resisting Geass is pretty much a given, considering how he's already shown himself incredibly resistant to other forms of mind-control (Morinth, Indoctrination), but ignoring it outright is iffy. Then again, I really doubt Shepard would have a peaceful conversation with Zero via anything other than vid-screen, telephone or the like, as any face-to-face meeting would likely result in Shepard attempting to kill or capture Zero.

Remember; Shepard's already used to TIM's smoothtalking, so Zero will be unable to bamboozle him the way he does everyone else, and where TIM is at least upfront about his willingness to sacrifice pretty much everyone and everything for what he perceives as "the greater good of humanity", Zero is a blatant liar who'll claim to protect the helpless and innocent one moment, then show absolutely no hesitation to sacrifice them if it serves his goals the next.

Things might be different if this was Renegade!Shep, but Paragon!Shep is, in my opinion, extremely unlikely to form any but the most temporal of alliances with either Britannia or the Black Knights.

- Kelenas
Eh.... yes and no on that last part. I can imagine if Lelouch decided to risk revealing WHO he is an WHY he personally wants Britannia down, in order to gain Shepards trust, he might have a slightly more stable alliance with Shepard. Of course, to have that happen, Lelouch would need to notice Shepard doesn't seem to be affected by sweet talk early enough so that he doesn't seem to be Illusive Man 2.0 by Shepard.

And bringing up Morinth, I think a Paragon Shep post ME-3, not damaged by reaper beam, could outright resist Geass actually. S/he resists Dominate from Morinth in ME2, and thats a whole game worth of Paragon to gain.
 

kelenas

Well-Known Member
#58
Keep in mind that the Paragon/Renegade points are very much a gameplay mechanic, much like the new ammunition - pardon me; "ejectable heatsinks" - system introduced in ME2.
Now, in Morinth's case one could make a case that sticking to his strongly-established principles is what allowed Shepard to shake off her influence, but there's also plenty of examples where it really doesn't make all that much sense for P/R responses to only be available if you've been a Saint/Jerk throughout the rest of the game. Kicking puppies shouldn't have anything to do with how good you are at making people piss themselves. And it certainly shouldn't have anything to do with resisting mind-control; either Shepard does have the strength of will necessary to overcome the mental influence in question (like Reaper indoctrination) or he doesn't.

And yeah, if he got to know Lelouch on a more personal basis, then it's possible Shepard might be more willing to ally with him. Paragon!Shepard was certainly willing enough to work with Jack despite her history, and even succeeded in helping her become a better person.
The problem, however, would be in getting Lelouch to talk. At all. Considering how close-lipped Lelouch was regarding his overall background and past, even with what should have been his closest allies, I really can't think of any scenario where this conversation would take place.

One thing I'm wondering, though... should get Shepard his own custom KF? Possibly with Amps and Eezo-nodules to produce Biotic effects on KF-scale?

- Kelenas
 

Leonite

Well-Known Member
#59
Honestly, if he's still in the game by R2, he'd need one. And theres an easy way to have Lelouch talk: "Its obvious from how Shepard acts that he isn't Britannian, he has no stakes in anything, maybe I can convince him otherwise".

Also had a thought, outside of using his Geass, Lelouch was actually a little influential at times wasn't he? Can you imagine Lelouch and Shepard having an arguement through gameplay mechanics? Interrupts and Persuasions all over the place.

Also, I would like to debate the Morinth resistance again. When Shepard was at full health, s/he could resist Morinth ("I don't think so" and "Surprise" don't exactly sound particularly Paragon or Renegade), and only had problems with the Illusive Man after being hit head on by a blast from Harbinger (the Reaper) and shot in the shoulder, practically on deaths door, and even then the control wasn't enough to make Shepard unable to possibly convince the Illusive Man to shoot himself.
 

kelenas

Well-Known Member
#60
Again; Lelouch didn't talk to anyone about his past or his plans/intentions unless he had absolutely no other choice, or the person in question was already "in the know" in some form or another, and even then he only told the absolute minimum he thought they needed to know.
Hell, his unwillingness to reveal his secrets is how Schneizel managed to turn his own allies against him.

So, considering how Lelouch seems downright obsessive in regards to keeping his secrets, why the hell should he suddenly decide to reveal them to some stranger? Especially one who will either be a complete unknown (if Shepard arrived just recently), or already have other obligations and affiliations (if he arrived some time ago and joined on of the other polities - most likely the EU, IMO?

In regards to their ability at influencing others, I'd say Lelouch is better (by far) at manipulating crowds and other, large groups of people, both directly and indirectly (ie, television and similar media) while Shepard is vastly superior at influencing individuals or small groups of people.
In a face-to-face meeting between the two (discounting Geass), Shepard is IMO far more likely to influence Lelouch, rather than the other way around.

As for Shepard's mental resistance, I'll quote your earlier post:
And bringing up Morinth, I think a Paragon Shep post ME-3, not damaged by reaper beam, could outright resist Geass actually. S/he resists Dominate from Morinth in ME2, and thats a whole game worth of Paragon to gain.
Alignment-points are a gameplay-mechanic; in reality, there should be little to no change in Shepard's willpower or mental resistance between ME2 and 3 (or 1, for that matter, since he managed to absorb the knowledge from the Prothean beacon without turning into a vegetable). Talking TIM into shooting himself also has nothing to do with mental resistance or willpower, but with Shepard's power of persuasion, which is long-established as being incredibly potent.
However, it's also important to remember that Indoctrination works mostly through subtlety, whereas Geass basically hacks your brain through brute force. Hence why I'd consider Shepard highly resistant to certain types of Geass, but not immune. Frankly, though, for story-purposes I'd simply avoid exposing Shepard to Geass' like Lelouch's.

- Kelenas
 

Ordo

Well-Known Member
#61
I've got the most basics of concepts. The idea is this game takes place in the Terminus system about 20 years after the events of ME 3. It now takes a two weeks to cross the distances one used to travel instantly using a relay. Their's still a o of rebuilding going on, new colonies being founded and people trying to make a life amongst the ashes of old worlds.

A graduate of Grissom Academy arrives on Omega with a team working as a vangurd for a major human expansion (or reexpansion) into the Terminus system. The story focuses on the graduate and the team being forced to gain power and influence in the areato help humanity gain a solid foothold in the Terminus systems.

This is going from a modified 'Destroy' ending, where Shepard suvived, EDI's alive and the Geth are aive and friendly with the Quarians (Since Shepard himself was paritally synthetic and survied I'm going to argue that the others could as well)
 

Leonite

Well-Known Member
#62
Ok, the following is a Naruto crossover... the idea mainly came because both Naruto and Commander Shepard show a great amount of influence verbally.... so what if Naruto was Commander Shepard? The idea is post-ninja war, limiting the use of Kyuubi chakra because it both breaks electronics and the usual celluler regeneration thing, but keeping in Sage Mode, Shadow Clones, ETC. Essentially, treat Naruto as a class seperate from the "Soldier-Biotic-Tech" ones, seeing how Naruto would've handled the problems Shepard would have faced.

The fact that this may very well result in a Kurama vs Reaper Battle is the icing on the cake.

To put it in a little more detail, lets take a look at this as if you're making a Shepard, new game plus, but on Insanity to balance it out. Your name is Naruto Shepard (unless you can conspire to have it be Uzumaki, it would likely be a cover name), with the Ninja Hero background (came from a long lost human colony with major exposure to Eezo, won a world war before the Alliance rediscovered the world, enlisted under the new Alliance Shinobi Corp) and any of the achievments (War hero, sole survivor, etc, with the excuse of having Naruto being sent to assist another team), your weapons being Kunai and a single pistol (which you can't be trained in, I don't see Naruto bothering) and having Naruto's jutsu as your powers.

... if that makes any sense. I'm making a lot of this up as I go along and the idea is fresh in my mind. Of course, this formula could be applied to any other ninja, its just I don't see anyone other than Naruto (Paragon with hints of Renegade) or Sasuke (Renegade) being used in a believable way.
 

Rahlian

Well-Known Member
#63
Leonite said:
Ok, the following is a Naruto crossover... the idea mainly came because both Naruto and Commander Shepard show a great amount of influence verbally.... so what if Naruto was Commander Shepard? The idea is post-ninja war, limiting the use of Kyuubi chakra because it both breaks electronics and the usual celluler regeneration thing, but keeping in Sage Mode, Shadow Clones, ETC. Essentially, treat Naruto as a class seperate from the "Soldier-Biotic-Tech" ones, seeing how Naruto would've handled the problems Shepard would have faced.

The fact that this may very well result in a Kurama vs Reaper Battle is the icing on the cake.

To put it in a little more detail, lets take a look at this as if you're making a Shepard, new game plus, but on Insanity to balance it out. Your name is Naruto Shepard (unless you can conspire to have it be Uzumaki, it would likely be a cover name), with the Ninja Hero background (came from a long lost human colony with major exposure to Eezo, won a world war before the Alliance rediscovered the world, enlisted under the new Alliance Shinobi Corp) and any of the achievments (War hero, sole survivor, etc, with the excuse of having Naruto being sent to assist another team), your weapons being Kunai and a single pistol (which you can't be trained in, I don't see Naruto bothering) and having Naruto's jutsu as your powers.

... if that makes any sense. I'm making a lot of this up as I go along and the idea is fresh in my mind. Of course, this formula could be applied to any other ninja, its just I don't see anyone other than Naruto (Paragon with hints of Renegade) or Sasuke (Renegade) being used in a believable way.
Sasuke would get indoctrinated in a heartbeat.

Would make for an interesting Bad End fic tho.
 

Kibbles

Well-Known Member
#64
Leonite said:
... if that makes any sense. I'm making a lot of this up as I go along and the idea is fresh in my mind. Of course, this formula could be applied to any other ninja, its just I don't see anyone other than Naruto (Paragon with hints of Renegade) or Sasuke (Renegade) being used in a believable way.
I've had a similar idea, not Naruto, but one that can be adapted. Make it follow a Bad End in the ME series itself.

The Reapers won, galactic civilization was wiped out, though they've been severely weakened by the Citadel Alliance. Most races tried to send colonists and ships off the grid in an attempt to make at least some people survive, new sanctuaries that immediately go dark to keep Reapers from noticing any transmissions at all. Humans made it (and even they forgot who they were), the fate of the others remains unknown.

Fast forward several thousand years. New civilizations have risen and the Reapers (the Yahg and Raloi being good candidates, though just recovering from an unspecified war some thousands of years in the past), accelerating their cycle to make up for losses, are now, again, looming over the galaxy. Fortunately for the organics, several of the repositories made by Liara in ME3 survive and give sufficient warning for the heroes. Now it's a race against time to find the Reaper vanguard in the galaxy and stop it from shutting the Relay network down, a Reaper that goes only by the Shepherd.

I suppose, given Naruto, you could have ninja Jesus therapy punch the former soldier Jesus and have them fight the Reapers together, the old hero and the new one.
 

Ordo

Well-Known Member
#65

Control Ending - Quarian



Synthesis ending - Asari


Destroy Ending - Krogan

THESE need to be written.

And Lo, Shepard struck down the machine god, casting it's processors into the pitt to burn for all eternity...
 

grant

Well-Known Member
#66
Two ideas.

Inspired by Renegade Reinterpretations, a two story epic that I'm just throwing out. Earth ends up in contact not with Council members but Terminus states. Indeed it could be a full century or two before humans make real contact with the Council (and humanity heavily influenced by Terminus propaganda with some justification). In that time centuries of fear, terrorism and warfare has turned humanity from 200+ nation states into one, very well organized, planet state with numerous colonial holdings and their expansion wasn't colonizing new worlds but incorporating the remains of empires and warlords that tried to conquer Earth when they were weak, ultimately leading to all out war with the Batarian Hegemony itself and the Council nervously watching on the sidelines as the worst outcome (one of the two states uniting the entire Terminus) could happen. Second part would be much the same as game canon, but without Council membership and with the two great powers trying to stay at peace while strange attacks have both sides blaming each other for Saren's actions. Not intended to be a 'the Council sucks' piece, more a Cold War piece...with humanity as the Soviet Union (with a sane economic policy and a bit more civil rights) and there's a hyperpower mechanical Nazi Germany that wants to kill everyone.

Out of curiosity, are there any (decently written) fics with Earth outside the Council?

Other idea, staying mostly in ME canon. Here the Spectres are actually a competent organization that actually pays its employees* and they work as teams who don't have universal moral authority but can only intervene in species-politics with extensive negotiations and/or great secrecy. Shepard, entering their ranks in response to human threats that if the Council does do something about Saren the Alliance will, tries to get used to the mix of Spectres, mercenaries and oddballs that seem to get attached to his mission while dealing with bureaucratic hell. One of the major failings for Mass Effect in my opinion was that I don't think we were ever given a chance to see the Spectres as an organization. Instead we saw Nihlus get killed, Saren go rogue, Tela murder for the Shadow Broker and were left with the impression that Shepard was the only competent and trustworthy employee in the entire organization.

Edit.
Third idea: Shepard on a mission with Aria and Samara/Morinth. Because those three didn't get as much exploration as they deserved and it'd be interesting to see Miss Justice or Miss Bad Girl around Aria. Also because there's a disturbing lack of Aria fanfics on FF.net


*Seriously that was a P.o.S. idea to have them financially independent in canon. There's a reason why M.I.6 stopped it after a short while in real life. People with unlimited power, an ability to convince the Council to look the other way and no stable paycheck are probably going to figure out that they can use that power for self-enrichment real quick.
 

Lord Raa

Exporter of Juice Tins
#67
I'm pondering branching out to a new area of fanfiction.

Anyone got any interesting ideas that I might be able to take a look at?
 

Ordo

Well-Known Member
#68
Lord Raa said:
I'm pondering branching out to a new area of fanfiction.

Anyone got any interesting ideas that I might be able to take a look at?
Someone posted an XCOM idea a page or two back. Then there was the ME/Girl Genius <a href='http://z14.invisionfree.com/The_Fanfiction_Forum/index.php?showtopic=20140' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>fusion</a> posted elsewhere on the site.
 

Lord Raa

Exporter of Juice Tins
#69
Ordo said:
Lord Raa said:
I'm pondering branching out to a new area of fanfiction.

Anyone got any interesting ideas that I might be able to take a look at?
Someone posted an XCOM idea a page or two back. Then there was the ME/Girl Genius <a href='http://z14.invisionfree.com/The_Fanfiction_Forum/index.php?showtopic=20140' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>fusion</a> posted elsewhere on the site.
Don't know Girl Genius and I lack the energy or motivation to change that.

Couldn't see the X-com crossover idea in a cursory search of the game ideas section or this thread.

I want to write something, but I haven't had any inspiration lately. Come on guys and girls, surely you can help out Uncle Raa here, can't you?
 

Ordo

Well-Known Member
#70
Lord Raa said:
Ordo said:
Lord Raa said:
I'm pondering branching out to a new area of fanfiction.

Anyone got any interesting ideas that I might be able to take a look at?
Someone posted an XCOM idea a page or two back. Then there was the ME/Girl Genius <a href='http://z14.invisionfree.com/The_Fanfiction_Forum/index.php?showtopic=20140' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>fusion</a> posted elsewhere on the site.
Don't know Girl Genius and I lack the energy or motivation to change that.

Couldn't see the X-com crossover idea in a cursory search of the game ideas section or this thread.

I want to write something, but I haven't had any inspiration lately. Come on guys and girls, surely you can help out Uncle Raa here, can't you?
Hmm, my bad...shoot I can't recall where I ran into that XCOM/Mass Effectáidea but I'm fairly sure it was on this forum. Anyone else got a link?

Also, I'm playing around with the idea of Human ships using a <a href='http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Ramscoop' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Bussard Collector</a> like device to replenish fuel instead of going to a depot, and determining how that would (or even if it would) alter the course of events.

And Perhaps this <a href='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB8PnnKLgaw' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>scene</a> of Samara swearing her loyalty to Shepard will provide something as well.

I'll admit, I just like the music here.

Finally LR had an idea for an <a href='http://z14.invisionfree.com/The_Fanfiction_Forum/index.php?showtopic=20594' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>ME/Star Wars</a> thing you could take a look at.

I'm getting ready to head out for a long walk so if I come up with anything interesting while given all that time to think I'll post when I get back.

Edit:

Maybe sme fan art will help....





 

grant

Well-Known Member
#71
Idea. Nihlus lives. While on the way to Eden Prime Shepard starts speculating about exactly the Geth would get the intel for the prothean artifact, even if they were monitoring interstellar transmissions this is still highly classified stuff. Nihlus sets it aside for later until he meets Saren. Then he starts to wonder exactly why the Council would send a second Spectre for what should have been a simple retrieval mission, why they would send an openly-prejudiced Spectre like Saren, why Saren appears just as the Geth are attacking and why no one would see fit to inform Nihlus about this. It isn't enough to tip him off that his mentor's a traitor, but it is enough to make him unable to turn his back on Saren. That's all that saves Nihlus' life when Saren shoots him.

Not sure where it would go from there. Obviously you've got a bit more credibility about the 'Saren is a traitor' thing than an easily-forged audio recording from an unreliable source. Shepard probably wouldn't be made a Spectre so soon with Nihlus still there to evaluate him/her. Might have to remove Garrus since there's only so much room for a professional Turian character.
 

Ordo

Well-Known Member
#72
Actually you could do a story on the only other decent Spectre you meet in these games, <a href='http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Jondum_Bau' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Jondum Bau</a>, and his fight to get the Salarians into the war despite the Salarian Dalatrass being a petty, short-sighted, bitch.
 

Ordo

Well-Known Member
#73
Son of a BITCH! I just took Javik along on the Krogan Scout mission, and during the talk about the Rachni he casually comments that his people used them as living weapons. Loaded them up with firepower and sent them at the enemy. When they became a problem, the Prothean's BURNED 200 worlds to wipe them out....

The Protheans were either freaking Sith Lords, or true believers in the 'Closed Fist' path.
 

Belgarion213

Well-Known Member
#74
Well actually that kind of strikes me less as 'lets wipe out two hundred worlds' but actually a sensible precaution. Think about it, it took the freaking Krogran to slow them down simply because the Rachni could bread so fast. A since world with a couple nests could quickly turn into the kind of nightmare nobody wants to contemplate. Two hundred worlds full of them? Wow, you do not wan't to fuck with that force. Though IIRC from that mission he say's that the rachni were basically mindless in that period.

That said yeah I got the feeling that they were more or less Sith Lords.
 

Ordo

Well-Known Member
#75
Belgarion213 said:
Well actually that kind of strikes me less as 'lets wipe out two hundred worlds' but actually a sensible precaution. Think about it, it took the freaking Krogran to slow them down simply because the Rachni could bread so fast. A since world with a couple nests could quickly turn into the kind of nightmare nobody wants to contemplate. Two hundred worlds full of them? Wow, you do not wan't to fuck with that force. Though IIRC from that mission he say's that the rachni were basically mindless in that period.

That said yeah I got the feeling that they were more or less Sith Lords.
Point taken, still I now kind of WANT to see Javik using a red lightsaber....
 
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