Franchise
Mass Effect
The original trilogy’s galaxy, from First Contact to the Reaper War. Where the story branches on a player choice, the article says so rather than picking a winner. Cited to the games and the codex material.
298 entries across 41 topics.
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Mass Effect Timeline: every major event from the Leviathans to Andromeda
A dated history of the Mass Effect universe, from the Leviathans and the first Reaper harvests through the fall of the Protheans, the Council's wars, humanity's arrival and the Reaper War of 2186. It ends with the Andromeda Initiative reaching the Heleus Cluster in 2819, and runs oldest first in eras.
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Mass Effect Games in Order: Release Order, Story Order and DLC
Every Mass Effect game in order, from Shepard's first mission in 2183 to the Andromeda Initiative in 2819. Release order and story order are the same list, so the real questions are which DLC to play, where Andromeda fits and whether the Legendary Edition is the way in.
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Every Mass Effect Romance Option, Game by Game
Every romance in Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and Andromeda: who each character is, whether a male or female Shepard or Ryder can romance them, how the relationship plays out and what happens to it in the next game. Fates that depend on choices are given as choices.
Long read
Every Mass Effect Species and Race, With Lifespans
A field guide to every sapient species in Mass Effect, from the Council races and their clients to the krogan, the geth, the Protheans and the peoples of the Heleus Cluster. Each entry gives the homeworld, the lifespan where the games actually state one, and where the species stood with the Citadel.
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Every Mass Effect Squadmate and Companion, Game by Game
Every squadmate in Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and Andromeda, with their species, how they join, what their story is about and how they can die. Fates that depend on player choices are given as choices, because the series never picks one canon.
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Mass Effect Story Explained: the Trilogy and Andromeda
The whole Mass Effect story in order, one game at a time. Shepard stops Saren, beats the Collectors and leads the galaxy against the Reapers, then Andromeda starts again 600 years later in another galaxy.
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How Did Garrus Get His Scar in Mass Effect?
Garrus got his scar on Omega in Mass Effect 2, when a Blue Suns gunship hit him with a rocket at the end of Shepard's mission to rescue the vigilante Archangel. Here's how it happens, how he survived and why the scar stays for the rest of the trilogy.
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Tevos
Tevos was the asari representative on the Citadel Council during the era of Commander Shepard, a diplomat and compromiser who nonetheless placed the welfare of asari space above the interests of her allies.
- 2
Raloi
The raloi were an avian, feathered species from the planet Turvess who made first contact with the asari in 2184 after their first space telescope spotted an asari cruiser. Newly welcomed to galactic society, they withdrew and isolated themselves at the onset of the Reaper War.
- 3
Spectres
The Spectres were an elite corps of agents granted extraordinary authority by the Citadel Council, charged with preserving galactic stability by any means necessary. Officially above the law and answerable to no one but the Council, they were hand-picked for exceptional ability from across the species of the galaxy.
- 4
Volus
The volus were a suited, ammonia-breathing species from the high-pressure world of Irune, a Citadel associate race and client of the Turian Hierarchy. Masters of trade and finance, they authored the galaxy's banking standards yet were never granted a seat on the Council.
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Asari
The asari, native to Thessia, were among the most influential species in the galaxy, renowned for their elegance, biotic talent, and millennium-long lifespans. A mono-gender people able to reproduce with a partner of any species, they founded the Citadel Council and stood at the heart of galactic society for two thousand years.
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Harbinger
Harbinger was the first Reaper ever created, forged from the Leviathans and serving as the template for every Reaper that followed. It directed the Collectors from dark space, possessing them to fight in person, and later led the assault on Earth as the oldest and largest of its kind.
Characters
All 119 Characters →
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Commander Shepard
Commander Shepard was a Systems Alliance N7 marine who became the first human Spectre, exposed the rogue agent Saren Arterius, and led the galaxy's resistance against the Reapers. Shepard's gender, history, and many of the choices that shaped the war were never fixed, and the final fate of the cycle turned on the Commander's own decisions.
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Saren Arterius
Saren Arterius was the longest-serving turian Spectre of the Citadel Council and a feared agent of galactic order, until he fell under the influence of the Reaper Sovereign. As Sovereign's indoctrinated agent he led the geth against the Citadel, and his defeat fell to Commander Shepard.
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The Illusive Man
The Illusive Man was the secretive, well-informed leader of Cerberus, a human whose true identity as Jack Harper was forgotten by most. For decades he bent his vast network and resources toward a single goal, the ascension of humanity, before his obsession with controlling the Reapers led to his downfall.
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Liara T'Soni: Asari Researcher and Shadow Broker
Liara T'Soni was an asari archaeologist and expert on the Protheans who joined Commander Shepard's crew in 2183. Driven by the loss of her mother and the betrayal of a friend, she later seized control of the Shadow Broker's network and turned it against the Reapers.
Technology
All 55 Technology →
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The Crucible
The Crucible was an ancient superweapon of unknown origin, refined across countless cycles by species hoping to stop the Reapers. Rediscovered during the Reaper invasion and built by a united galaxy, it became the last hope of organic life, completed only by joining it with the Citadel.
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Mass relay
Mass relays were colossal transit devices scattered across the Milky Way that flung starships across thousands of light years in moments. Long credited to the Protheans, they were in truth built by the Reapers as part of a trap meant to shape and harvest galactic civilization.
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Element zero
Element zero, nicknamed eezo, was a rare material that released dark energy when subjected to an electrical current, letting it raise or lower the mass of everything in the resulting field. It underpinned faster-than-light travel, artificial gravity, and the biotic abilities of living beings.
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Kinetic barriers
Kinetic barriers, commonly called shields, were repulsive mass effect fields projected from small emitters to deflect fast-moving objects. They protected starships and infantry alike from mass accelerator fire while leaving slow movement and ordinary contact untouched.
Andromeda
All 40 Andromeda →
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Heleus Cluster: The Initiative's New Frontier
The Heleus Cluster was a resource-rich region of star systems on the outskirts of the Andromeda galaxy, chosen by the Andromeda Initiative as its foothold in the new galaxy. Centered on a massive black hole and seeded with abundant Element Zero, it held the worlds the Initiative hoped to settle.
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Nexus: Heart of the Andromeda Initiative
The Nexus was the headquarters of the Andromeda Initiative, a vast space station built to anchor the arriving arks, process resources, and shelter colonists in the Heleus Cluster. Modeled on the Citadel, it survived disaster and rebellion to become the seat of the colonization effort.
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Kett: Conquerors of Heleus
The kett were a hostile, militaristic species encountered by the Andromeda Initiative in the Heleus Cluster. Unable to breed by natural means, they expanded their ranks and their empire through exaltation, a process that converted captured members of other species into obedient kett.
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Angara
The angara were the only known living sapient race native to the Heleus Cluster of the Andromeda galaxy. After a catastrophe called the Scourge shattered their ancient civilization, they rebuilt only to face the invading kett, against whom they waged a decades-long resistance.
Human
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Commander Shepard
Commander Shepard was a Systems Alliance N7 marine who became the first human Spectre, exposed the rogue agent Saren Arterius, and led the galaxy's resistance against the Reapers. Shepard's gender, history, and many of the choices that shaped the war were never fixed, and the final fate of the cycle turned on the Commander's own decisions.
Long read
The Illusive Man
The Illusive Man was the secretive, well-informed leader of Cerberus, a human whose true identity as Jack Harper was forgotten by most. For decades he bent his vast network and resources toward a single goal, the ascension of humanity, before his obsession with controlling the Reapers led to his downfall.
Long read
David Anderson
David Anderson was a decorated Systems Alliance officer, the first captain of the Normandy, and a mentor to Commander Shepard. When the Reapers invaded Earth, he stayed behind to lead its resistance, and he stood at Shepard's side in the final hours of the war.
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First Contact War
The First Contact War, known to the turians as the Relay 314 Incident, was a brief, low-intensity conflict between the human Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy in 2157 CE. It began when turians fired on human ships reactivating a dormant mass relay, escalated into the occupation and liberation of the colony Shanxi, and ended with Council mediation that revealed the wider galaxy to humanity.
Species
All 39 Species →
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Reaper
The Reapers were an ancient race of synthetic-organic starships that hibernated in dark space and returned once every fifty thousand years to harvest the galaxy's advanced life. They built the Citadel and the mass relay network to guide civilization down a predictable path, then reaped it to preserve organic life from synthetic destruction.
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Collectors
The Collectors were an enigmatic insectoid race dwelling beyond the Omega 4 Relay, long dismissed as myth. In truth they were the last of the Protheans, genetically rewritten and cybernetically enslaved by the Reapers, who used them to abduct human colonies and build a Human-Reaper.
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Geth
The geth were a race of networked artificial intelligences built by the quarians as laborers. When they gained sentience and questioned their makers, the quarians tried to exterminate them; the geth won the resulting Morning War and withdrew behind the Perseus Veil to build their own future.
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Prothean
The Protheans were an ancient race who ruled a galaxy-wide empire before mysteriously vanishing some fifty thousand years ago, harvested by the Reapers. Long credited with building the Citadel and mass relays, they secretly nurtured younger species, leaving ruins and technology that shaped the modern galaxy.
Systems Alliance
All 39 Systems Alliance →Long read
Commander Shepard
Commander Shepard was a Systems Alliance N7 marine who became the first human Spectre, exposed the rogue agent Saren Arterius, and led the galaxy's resistance against the Reapers. Shepard's gender, history, and many of the choices that shaped the war were never fixed, and the final fate of the cycle turned on the Commander's own decisions.
Long read
Systems Alliance
The Systems Alliance was the supranational government of Earth and its colonies, acting as humanity's military, exploratory, and economic arm in Citadel space. Within decades of its founding it won humanity a Council seat and led the galaxy's defense during the Reaper War.
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Normandy SR-2
The Normandy SR-2 was an advanced stealth frigate built as the successor to the original Normandy and served as Commander Shepard's base of operations against the Collectors and, later, the Reapers. Built by Cerberus and later turned over to the Systems Alliance, she became one of the most storied warships of her era.
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Eden Prime
Eden Prime was one of the first human colonies founded beyond the Charon mass relay, an idyllic agrarian paradise whose Prothean ruins made it the opening battleground of the war against the Reapers.
Recently published
Long read · 9 Oct 2026
How Did Garrus Get His Scar in Mass Effect?
Garrus got his scar on Omega in Mass Effect 2, when a Blue Suns gunship hit him with a rocket at the end of Shepard's mission to rescue the vigilante Archangel. Here's how it happens, how he survived and why the scar stays for the rest of the trilogy.
Long read · 9 Oct 2026
How Did Shepard Not Get Indoctrinated?
The games never say Shepard is immune to indoctrination. Shepard just never spends long enough near Reaper technology for it to take hold. Here's what the trilogy shows, what the Indoctrination Theory claims, and what the Extended Cut did to that theory.
Long read · 9 Oct 2026
How Did Shepard Survive Mass Effect 2? The Lazarus Project Explained
Shepard didn't survive. The Commander died when the Collectors destroyed the Normandy, and Cerberus spent two years rebuilding the body in the Lazarus Project. Here's how it worked, who recovered the body and what Mass Effect 3 later confirmed.
Long read · 9 Oct 2026
Is Garrus Romanceable in Mass Effect?
Yes, but only for a female Shepard, and only from Mass Effect 2 onwards. Here's how the Garrus romance works in each game, where it peaks and what happens to it at the end of the trilogy.
Long read · 9 Oct 2026
Is Shepard in the Next Mass Effect?
BioWare hasn't said. The teasers keep pointing back at Shepard, with N7 armour in the snow and a Shadow Broker who looks a lot like Liara, but nothing official confirms Commander Shepard as a character in the next game.
Long read · 9 Oct 2026
Mass Effect 2 Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of the Story
Twelve questions on Mass Effect 2, from Shepard's death and the Lazarus Project to the Collectors, Harbinger and the suicide mission. Every answer comes with a short explanation and a link to the page that covers it.
Long read · 9 Oct 2026
Mass Effect 3 Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of the Story
Twelve questions on Mass Effect 3, from the fall of Earth and the Crucible to the Catalyst and the four endings. Every answer comes with a short explanation and a link to the page that covers it.
Long read · 9 Oct 2026
Every Mass Effect Book and Comic in Order
All seven Mass Effect novels and every Dark Horse comic, listed by publication date and then by where they fall in the story. Four novels belong to the Shepard era, three to Andromeda, and the comics fill in the gaps between the games.
All 41 topics
Asari 24
- Asari
- Liara T'Soni: Asari Researcher and Shadow Broker
- Illium
- Thessia
- Aria T'Loak: The Pirate Queen of Omega
Story Guides 13
- Mass Effect 2 Story Explained: Plot Summary and the Suicide Mission
- Mass Effect 3 Story and Ending Explained: Destroy, Control, Synthesis and Refuse
- Mass Effect: Andromeda Story Explained
- Mass Effect Story Explained: Plot Summary and Ending of the First Game
- Mass Effect Story Explained: the Trilogy and Andromeda
Salarian 13
- Salarian
- Mordin Solus
- Special Tasks Group
- Sur'Kesh: The Salarian Homeworld
- Jarun Tann: Director of the Andromeda Initiative
All entries A–Z
298 entries
A
18- Acolyte: Asari Heavy Pistol
- Adrien Victus: the general who became Primarch on a moon of Palaven
- Alec Ryder: the first human Pathfinder in Mass Effect: Andromeda
- Alliance Navy: Humanity's Fleet
- Amanda Kenson: Scientist of the Bahak System
- Anax Therion: Drell Analyst of the Keelah Si'yah
- Andromeda Initiative: the one-way voyage to the Heleus Cluster
- Angara
- Architect: Colossal Remnant Sentinel of Heleus
- Arcturus Station
- Aria T'Loak: The Pirate Queen of Omega
- Armando-Owen Bailey
- Asari
- Asari Commandos
- Asari Republics
- Ashley Williams
- Atlas
- August Bradley
B
13C
15- Calix Corvannis: Leader of the Nexus Uprising
- Cerberus
- Chloe Michel: Citadel Physician
- Citadel
- Citadel Conventions
- Citadel Council
- Citadel Fleet: the Council's defence force and what one battle cost it
- Citadel Security Services: C-Sec
- Collector Cruiser
- Collector General: the voice that ran the human abductions
- Collectors
- Commander Shepard
- Conrad Verner
- Cora Harper: Asari-Trained Vanguard of the Andromeda Initiative
- Crew Info Board: the Tempest's message wall
D
9E
16- Eclipse
- Eden Prime
- Eden Prime War
- EDI
- Elaaden: Desert Moon of the Heleus Cluster
- Elcor
- Element zero
- Elysium: the colony attacked in the Skyllian Blitz of 2176
- Entertainment: Culture and amusement across the galaxy
- Eos: Desert World of Radiation Storms
- Essex: Biotic Marine of Delta Squad
- Every Mass Effect Book and Comic in Order
- Every Mass Effect Romance Option, Game by Game
- Every Mass Effect Species and Race, With Lifespans
- Every Mass Effect Squadmate and Companion, Game by Game
- Executioner Pistol
G
14- Garm
- Garrus Vakarian
- Gavin Archer: the Cerberus scientist who wired his brother into a VI
- Genophage
- Geth
- Geth Armory: Arsenal of the Synthetics
- Geth Plasma Shotgun: Arcing Cluster Weapon
- Geth Prime
- Geth Rocket Trooper
- Geth Trooper
- Greg Adams: Normandy Chief Engineer
- Grenades: Infantry Explosive Charges
- Grissom Academy
- Grunt
H
11- Han'Gerrel vas Neema: Quarian Admiral of the Heavy Fleet
- Hanar
- Harbinger
- Heleus Cluster: The Initiative's New Frontier
- Horizon
- How Did Garrus Get His Scar in Mass Effect?
- How Did Shepard Not Get Indoctrinated?
- How Did Shepard Survive Mass Effect 2? The Lazarus Project Explained
- Human-Reaper: The Proto-Reaper of the Collector Base
- Humans
- Husk
I
7J
11- Jaal Ama Darav: Angaran Resistance Fighter
- Jack
- Jacob Taylor
- Jalosk Dal'Virra: Batarian Sleepwalker of the Keelah Si'yah
- James Vega
- Jarun Tann: Director of the Andromeda Initiative
- Javelin: Geth Ferrofluid Sniper Rifle
- Javik
- Jeff "Joker" Moreau
- Jondum Bau
- Justicars: the asari order that answers only to the Code
K
22- Ka'hairal Balak
- Kadara: Haven of Exiles and Pirates
- Kahlee Sanders
- Kai Leng
- Kaidan Alenko
- Kal'Reegar: the Migrant Fleet marine who held the bridge on Haestrom
- Karin Chakwas
- Kasumi Goto
- Keelah Si'yah
- Keepers
- Kelly Chambers
- Kenneth Donnelly: Normandy Engineer
- Kett: Conquerors of Heleus
- Khalisah al-Jilani: Westerlund News Reporter
- Khar'shan: The Batarian Homeworld
- Kinetic barriers
- Kirrahe
- Kishock Harpoon Gun: Batarian Harpoon Rifle
- Kolyat Krios: Thane's son and the hit he was stopped from finishing
- Krogan
- Krogan Rebellions
- Krysae Sniper Rifle: Turian Anti-Reaper Weapon
L
7M
39- M-15 Vindicator: Mercenary Battle Rifle
- M-23 Katana: Common Mercenary Shotgun
- M-25 Hornet: the Cerberus burst-fire submachine gun
- M-27 Scimitar: Ariake Assault Shotgun
- M-29 Incisor: Burst-Fire Sniper Rifle
- M-3 Predator: Heavy Pistol
- M-300 Claymore
- M-37 Falcon: Alliance Grenade Launcher Rifle
- M-6 Carnifex: Heavy Pistol
- M-76 Revenant: Warlord's Machine Gun
- M-8 Avenger: Elkoss Combine Assault Rifle
- M-92 Mantis
- M-920 Cain: The Nuke Launcher
- M-96 Mattock: Semi-Automatic Marksman Rifle
- M-97 Viper: Rapid-Fire Sniper Rifle
- M-98 Widow: Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle
- M35 Mako: the Normandy's air-dropped fighting vehicle
- Maelon Heplorn
- Mass Effect 2 Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of the Story
- Mass Effect 2 Story Explained: Plot Summary and the Suicide Mission
- Mass Effect 3 Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of the Story
- Mass Effect 3 Story and Ending Explained: Destroy, Control, Synthesis and Refuse
- Mass Effect Games in Order: Release Order, Story Order and DLC
- Mass Effect Lore Quiz: 15 Questions for Real Fans
- Mass Effect Story Explained: Plot Summary and Ending of the First Game
- Mass Effect Story Explained: the Trilogy and Andromeda
- Mass Effect Timeline: every major event from the Leviathans to Andromeda
- Mass Effect: Andromeda Story Explained
- Mass relay
- Matriarch Aethyta
- Matriarch Benezia
- Maya Brooks
- Migrant Fleet
- Milque
- Miranda Lawson
- Mordin Solus
- Morinth
- Morning War
- Moshae Sjefa: Angaran Scholar of the Remnant
N
12- N7 Eagle: Alliance Automatic Pistol
- N7 Hurricane: Submachine Gun
- N7 Piranha
- Nakmor Drack: The Old Krogan of Clan Nakmor
- Nakmor Kesh: the krogan engineer who keeps the Nexus running
- Nassana Dantius: the asari diplomat who had Shepard kill her sister
- Nemesis: Cerberus's sniper specialist
- Nexus: Heart of the Andromeda Initiative
- Nihlus Kryik
- Normandy SR-2
- Noveria
- Nyreen Kandros: Leader of the Talons
P
9R
11S
31- Salarian
- Salarian Union
- SAM: Simulated Adaptive Matrix
- Samantha Traynor
- Samara
- Saren Arterius
- Scion: Fused Husk Artillery
- Scorpion: Salarian STG Heavy Pistol
- Senna'Nir vas Keelah Si'yah: First Officer of the Quarian Ark
- Sha'ira: the asari Consort of the Citadel and her gift of words
- Shadow Broker
- Shala'Raan vas Tonbay: Quarian Admiral and Tali's Auntie Raan
- Shala'Raan vas Tonbay: The Quarian Admiral
- Shanxi: the only human colony ever occupied by an alien race
- Shiala: the asari commando Saren traded to the Thorian
- Skyllian Blitz
- Sloane Kelly: The Outcast Queen of Kadara
- Sovereign: the Reaper vanguard the geth called Nazara
- Special Tasks Group
- Spectre
- Spectre Requisitions: the Council's quiet quartermaster
- Spectre Terminal: the console where Council authority met a city at war
- Spectres
- SSV Normandy
- SSV Normandy SR-1
- Starships: the warships and vessels of galactic civilization
- Steve Cortez
- Steven Hackett
- Sur'Kesh: The Salarian Homeworld
- Suvi Anwar: Science Officer of the Tempest
- Systems Alliance
T
20- Tali'Zorah: Quarian Engineer of the Migrant Fleet
- Tela Vasir
- Tempest: The Pathfinder's Scout Ship
- Terminus Systems
- Terra Nova
- Tevos
- Thane Krios
- Thanix Cannon
- The Clone: Cerberus's copy of Commander Shepard
- The Crucible
- The Illusive Man
- Thessia
- Thorian
- Thresher Maw
- Tiran Kandros: Leader of the Nexus Militia
- Treaty of Farixen: the dreadnought ratio that held Citadel space
- Treeya Nuwani: Asari Anthropologist of Fehl Prime
- Tuchanka
- Turian
- Turian Hierarchy
V
7W
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