Heleus Cluster: The Initiative's New Frontier
The Andromeda Initiative's Destination in Andromeda
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.
The Heleus Cluster was a resource-rich region of star systems lying on the outskirts of the Andromeda galaxy, chosen by the Andromeda Initiative as the destination for its long voyage from the Milky Way. Comprising thirty-eight star systems and hundreds of planets, it was centered on a massive black hole and held what early surveys promised would be habitable, mineral-rich worlds. The settlers who crossed to it established their headquarters at the station known as the Nexus and pressed outward into a cluster that proved far less welcoming than the scans had suggested. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)
A new frontier in Andromeda#
The Heleus Cluster sat in the outer reaches of the Andromeda galaxy, a sprawl of thirty-eight star systems and hundreds of worlds. Long-range scans carried out from the Milky Way had picked it out as a seemingly resource-rich region, and on the strength of those readings the Andromeda Initiative chose it as the foothold from which it would build a future in the distant galaxy. Ringed terrestrial worlds turned up far more often there than in the systems travelers from the Milky Way knew. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)
At the apparent center of the cluster lay a massive black hole, and its formation may have been the source of the abundant Element Zero deposits scattered through the region. From among its many planets the Initiative identified seven viable locations, known as the golden worlds, which were intended to become the first homes of the colonists once they arrived. How those golden worlds actually turned out drives the story of Mass Effect: Andromeda. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)
Naming the cluster#
The cluster shares its name with Heleus, in Greek myth the youngest son of Andromeda and Perseus. The Andromeda Initiative also named a number of the cluster's systems after explorers drawn from the histories of the Milky Way species. Among them, Dar'hegah honored the first batarian astronaut, Kindrax the first turian aeronaut to cross one of Palaven's oceans by balloon, and Tecunis the first salarian expedition to reach the Citadel, while others bore the names of human travelers such as Leif Eriksson, Zheng He, and Ida Laura Pfeiffer. The result was a frontier mapped in the language of exploration even before its settlers had set foot upon it. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Heleus Cluster?
- The Heleus Cluster was a region of space on the outskirts of the Andromeda galaxy, made up of thirty-eight star systems and hundreds of planets. The Andromeda Initiative selected it as the destination for its journey from the Milky Way, drawn by long-range scans that suggested it was rich in resources and home to potentially habitable worlds.
- What were the golden worlds?
- The golden worlds were seven locations within the Heleus Cluster that the Andromeda Initiative identified from afar as the most viable candidates for settlement. They were meant to serve as the first homes for the colonists who had crossed the void between galaxies.
- Why was the Heleus Cluster so rich in Element Zero?
- A massive black hole lay at the apparent center of the cluster, and its formation may have been responsible for the unusually rich Element Zero deposits found throughout the region. The cluster also held an unusual prevalence of ringed terrestrial worlds.
Sources
- GameMass Effect: Andromeda, BioWare, 2017
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
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.
Andromeda Initiative: the one-way voyage to the Heleus Cluster
The Andromeda Initiative was a privately funded, multi-species project to settle the Andromeda galaxy. Founded by Jien Garson in 2176, it sent the Nexus and its arks across dark space in 2185, and they reached the Heleus Cluster more than six centuries later to find almost nothing as promised.
Mass Effect: Andromeda Story Explained
The plot of Mass Effect: Andromeda in order, from the Hyperion's arrival in the Heleus Cluster to the battle for Meridian. Who the kett are, what the Remnant vaults do, and what the ending leaves open.
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.
Citadel
The Citadel was a colossal deep-space station in the Serpent Nebula that served as the political and cultural heart of Citadel space and the seat of the Council. Long believed to be a Prothean relic, it was in truth a Reaper construction and a dormant trap at the center of galactic civilization.
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.
Mentioned in41 entries
Alec Ryder: the first human Pathfinder in Mass Effect: Andromeda
Alec Ryder was an N7 veteran, AI researcher and the human Pathfinder of the Andromeda Initiative. He built SAM, brought his twins to Andromeda, and died on Habitat 7 in 2819, passing the role to one of them.
Anax Therion: Drell Analyst of the Keelah Si'yah
Anax Therion was a drell analyst and former data dealer who travelled to Andromeda aboard the ark Keelah Si'yah. Clinical, guarded, and quietly lethal, she had spent her life trading in secrets, and when a plague began killing the ark's sleepers she turned her investigator's mind to uncovering the cause.
Andromeda Initiative: the one-way voyage to the Heleus Cluster
The Andromeda Initiative was a privately funded, multi-species project to settle the Andromeda galaxy. Founded by Jien Garson in 2176, it sent the Nexus and its arks across dark space in 2185, and they reached the Heleus Cluster more than six centuries later to find almost nothing as promised.
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.
Architect: Colossal Remnant Sentinel of Heleus
Architects were colossal Remnant machines that haunted the golden worlds of the Heleus Cluster, bursting from the ground to hover on element zero cores and raining destruction on anything beneath them. Pathfinder Ryder of the Andromeda Initiative first encountered them in 2819 and learned that, while they could not be destroyed, they could be grounded and reprogrammed.
August Bradley
August Bradley was a former Alliance officer who led the third wave of settlers in the Andromeda Initiative and became the first mayor of Prodromos, the first successful Initiative outpost in the Heleus Cluster, founded on the world of Eos.
Background Races: the vanished civilizations known only from ruins
Across billions of years, countless races rose to sentience in the Milky Way and Andromeda, forged civilizations, explored the depths of space, and became extinct. The contemporary galaxy knew most of them only through ruins, wreckage, and artifacts, from the crypt builders of Armeni to the nameless dead entombed in the clouds of Anjea.
Calix Corvannis: Leader of the Nexus Uprising
Calix Corvannis was the turian chief life support technician of the Nexus and the reluctant leader of the mutiny that nearly tore the station apart in the Andromeda Initiative's first desperate months. Talented and fiercely loyal to his crew, he turned against a leadership he no longer trusted.
Cora Harper: Asari-Trained Vanguard of the Andromeda Initiative
Cora Harper was a human biotic and former asari commando who served as the Pathfinder team's second in command aboard the Tempest. Trained among the asari huntresses of Talein's Daughters, she brought elite biotic skill and rigid discipline to the Andromeda Initiative's expedition into the Heleus Cluster.
Elaaden: Desert Moon of the Heleus Cluster
Elaaden was a scorching desert moon of a gas giant in the Heleus Cluster of the Andromeda galaxy. Brutally hot and starved of water, it nonetheless became home to the krogan colony of New Tuchanka and to scavengers and exiles living on its sands.
Eos: Desert World of Radiation Storms
Eos was a resource-rich desert world in the Heleus Cluster, long catalogued as unsettleable because of the lethal radiation storms that scoured its surface. After two colonies failed, the reactivation of its Remnant vault drove back the radiation and allowed the Andromeda Initiative's first lasting outpost to take root there.
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.
+ 29 more
Get new articles in your inbox
No spam. New lore drops, canon conflicts, and deep dives only when they’re worth reading.
Some links on Lore Fortress are affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.