It doesn't really ever happen that I talk about video games on this blog but this time I just can't stop myself. I have played a LOT of videogames in my life starting all the way back at stealing money off some French guy to play Space Invaders. While I usually have a satisfying sense of accomplishment when completely finishing a game things were different with Mass Effect. This was true for part 1 when I played it in London well over 2 years ago and again with Mass Effect 2 in the past month. Only with these two games I felt sad when I finished them. "It's over. NOOOOOO!! It can't be! I need more!".

Asari Liara T'Soni and Alliance soldier Ashley in Mass Effect 1

The Mass Effect Universe

The Mass Effect universe is set in our own Milky Way galaxy. For reasons unknown and probably impossible to understand to humanity and any other sapient life form a race of ancient sentient machines feels the need to purge the galaxy of intelligent life every time it reaches a certain level of technical and social sophistication. These machines, 'The Reapers' as they're called by all advanced species in the galaxy have been doing this for millions of years. The most recent species of importance to be purged from the galaxy were the 'Protheans'. A highly advanced civilization that went extinct about 50.000 years ago. Thanks to the wealth of information found in a small Prothean cache found deep under the surface of Mars, humanity has made it into becoming a space faring civilization. Most other civilizations that are currently space faring have done so thanks to the remains of the once mighty Prothean civilization. In order to make sure the species that are reaching a level of sophistication that warrants a new cycle of extermination the reapers have set up a network of incredibly advanced space stations called 'Mass Relays' which enable instant travel to many star systems throughout the galaxy. This network is believed to be a Prothean legacy by most while in reality it's Reaper technology. At the center of all this there's a space station of epic proportions called 'The Citadel' which is populated by groups of most known space faring races in the galaxy and governed by a galactic council with representatives of the most dominant species.

So there you have it. Humanity, and a lot of other species would never be traveling the galaxy if it weren't for the Prothean remains and the network of Mass Relays. To me this is a very believable scenario because for one I can't really believe humanity will ever leave this level of sophistication on it's own without exterminating itself first.