Aight so I'll only focus on the tie-in novels/comics that take place during the six month timeskip from ME2 to ME3 since I haven't actually read them I'm just looking through the wiki and came up with what they would be,
Mass Effect: Invasion - This particular novel/comic has similarities to its OTL version, but only a few similarities, months after the events of both ME2 and Arrival, there exists a tense peace between Cerberus and Aria T'Loak as she allows them to establish bases while salvaging the Collector base and the surrounding ships, chapters are focused on Aria contemplating on the Collector Base and its technology while also on several warlords in the Terminus mysteriously disappearing, Aria of course benefits from this as the warlords' deaths would mean less potential rivals to her status as the Terminus' De-Facto leader. A ship of with no identification then docks in Omega presumably delivering cargo, and before Aria's people can investigate the ship husk-like creatures burst out of the ship and begin attacking the guards. The crew of the ship also attack the guards all while one of them remarks on 'delivering the word of the Ascended' to the downtrodden people of Omega. Act 1 then spends the remaining chapters on Aria attempting to maintain control of Omega while the intruders and their husk-like minions wreak havok, with the help of unlikely allies, A small Cerberus fleet that managed to rout the blockade and land a several squads before being forced to retreat after a larger fleet arrives. Aria is forced to work with the newcomers after they tell her of their curent enemy and combatting them.
Act 2 opens up with the introduction of Cerberus General Oleg Petrovsky and his attempts to radio in all research bases while stating that the 'Pandora' protocol has been activated. One base radios in the midst of gunfire and tells the general of the base under attack after the 'Adjudants' are set loose. After that Petrovsky is ordered by someone codenamed 'Pandora' to retrieve as much as data and manpower as he can. The small Cerberus team on Omega manages to contact the general on the location of the cult and several adjudants. Petrovsky's fleet then arrive at Omega and despite the disadvantage in numbers the combined fleets of several Terminus Warlords (who are implied to be indoctrinated) are routed once more allowing Petrovsky to clear a path to Omega.
Act 3 starts with Aria and Petrovsky in a conversation with regards to the husk and the cult. Petrovsky then reveals what Cerberus have been trying to uncover since Sovereign's attack and admits to them biting off more than they could chew, when Aria criticizes Cerberus as a whole for trying to meddle with Reaper technology and demands to contact the Illusive Man Petrovsky drops another revelation. The Illusive Man was dead and Cerberus broken because of them getting inflitrated by the Cult of the Ascended. After this Petrovsky says that he has to fulfill TIM's final wishes, a victory against the Reapers at any cost. This alliance between Aria's forces and Oleg's is pyt to tge test in several chapters as while Aria's people destroy every Adjudants they encounter Oleg's try to preserve them for analysis even when it was clear that meddling with Reaper tech was a double edged sword. The Speaker of the Cult then launches another attack in an attempt to demoralize Omega's population and it reaches the climax when they reach the core and attempt to blow the station up if Aria and Cerberus do not surrender. Although an attempt is made to retake the core by Aria's top lieutenant, it ends in failure and Aria is forced to make a decision as Petrovsky's people retreat. Aria then boards a shuttle to one of the few ships she still controls and together the joint Omega-Cerberus fleet smash through the blockade while the remaining forces loyal to Aria buy the fleet time. Aria is then last seen looking at Omega from her ship and vows to put the Speaker's head on a pike. Petrovsky is briefed in the final chapter/panels on what occured and here it is revealed Pandora is none other than Miranda Lawson herself, she and an Asari Matriarch named Trilani then discuss the aftermath of what occured while also going with the data Petrovsky managed to recover. The final scene has Trilani assure the Cerberus agents as she contacts her friends while musing that the Sentinels were prepared for the coming storm.
Mass Effect: Pandora - This two part series covers the origins of the man who would later become The Illusive Man and his first contact with Reaper Technology and also covers the events after Arrival right up to Mass Effect: Invasion. While the first part covers on TIM's origins, the birth of Cerberus, the madness of Desolas Arterius, his eventual knowledge of both the Cult and the Sentinels and the brief alliance with Saren Arterius before the Turian's fall from grace, the second begins weeks after Commander Shepard is arrested with TIM already putting Cerberus in full mobilization status, it is here Maya Brooks, a high ranking officer in Cerberus who specializes in dealing with Reaper artifacts suggests to TIM of needing more manpower and already has a perfect template for such a project. TIM, knowing the need for numbers to combat the Reaper's ground forces approves of the plan despite General Petrovsky's objections. As the story progresses it is quite clear that TIM's mental health has deteriorated and his contact with a presumably reaper artifact back in the first part is finally catching up with him as he starts hallucinating his dead comrades. An incident that involved David Anderson and Prince Johann von Hohenzollern makes matters worse. Brooks meanwhile has an ulterior motive as she browses the Lazarus files (One of the major villains for TTL ME3 will be quite a surprise i assure you ) TIM then contacts Petrovsky and Miranda in the final chapter as he tells them of the legend of Pandora's box. And so here TIM activates the Pandora contigency as Lawson is the first to disconnect. TIM then tells Petrovsky words of assurance and to carry on the fight and assist Shepard before Petrovsky bids his fatewell and disconnects as wel. A series of events then occur as the new clone troopers start killing off Cerberus personnel as TIM sits in his office admiring the star while 'The Man Who Sold the World' plays on his computer, as the song ends Brooks and an unknown figure in Cerberus armor go inside TIM's office, Brooks and TIM have words to each other before TIM says that hope will prevail. Brooks gloats at his naivety as the unknown figure raises a pistol over TIM's head. A gunshot follows afterwards.
Mass Effect: Conviction - Not much difference from OTL as it involves Alliance Marine James Vega being assigned as Commander Shepard's prison guard, unlike OTL the story is expanded as Vega tries to deal with the fact that he's guarding a supposed hero of humanity. There's also brief interactions between Vega and Shepard (Though Shepard's gender and look is obviously kept vague).
Mass Effect: A Prince of the Reich - This three part series mostly focuses on a fan favorite character introduced in ME2, Prince Johann von Hohenzollern, a member if the Imperial family (The youngesr one at that, born a year before the first contact war) What's interesting about the first two parts is that not only does it deal with Johann's early life but Earth Culture being drastically different in the age of space travel and other sapient life. Parts 1 and 2 fleshes out how the nations of the Alliance currently look like as well as the vast difference in wealth between Earth and her colonies (This is lampshaded in ME2 with Horizon being an independent colony that reluctantly agreed to be aided by the Alliance) While Part 1: The Early Years is all about Johann's early life it also shows how the Reich and the Hohenzollerns are losing relevance and are only there because they just are (Kinda like the British Royal Family in OTL) while the Meritocratic system is still in place there's cracks in the system that makes running the country all the more trickier. And as a child he followed Kaiser Otto's footsteps and mingled with the poor in the lower class district (Thus explaining their odd friendship with Earthborn Shepard)
One of the highlights in part one is the reemergence of the pragmatic sanction as the crown prince of the Reich, Johann's older brother broke tradition by marrying an Asari, thus the question of an Asari empress of the Romans is made by those against the union (Mostly Terra Firma members) who say that since the offspring will be asari it will break the Hohenzollern line entirely. This leads to the rise of a Neo Maximist movement who want the crown prince to abdicate his title to any of his siblings, this complicates matters when the Kaiser somehow agrees to the union.
Part 2: Agent of Rome mostly deals with Johann's time in the military and brief fights in Russia and Eimerica before he decides to become an Athanatoi agent, and his dealings with the underworld during this time. Several chapters also has him mingling with high society on the Citadel, and eventually coming into contact with the mysterious Sentinels mere weeks before the Darker Powers side quest.
Part 3: The Coming Storm deals with the aftermath of the events of Arrival and has Johann team up with David Anderson (His position is kept vague here) regarding the Cult of the Ascended somehow managing to inflitrate C-Sec until it escalates to a near confrontation with Cerberus regarding alleged Leviathan Artifacts, the final chapter has Johann contemplate on whether or not there would still be an Earth left to save after the war was over.
And that about covers some lore tie in novels/comics, since with TTL ME3 being developed without EA I reckon it'll take a lot of time just to get every decision into account. Because of this Bioware releases the novels/comics to keep the fanbase giddy. Plus its during this time Bioware launches an Art contest to let fans have the creativity in making a Reaper Invasion scenario, there will be several winners of course. With the price getting a collector's edition of ME3 AND to have their work be animated in game (I'll be mentioning one of those who won once I start working on ME3's first half.)
Hope y'all find it interesting (I still have plans for TIM's role in ME3 btw, Martin Sheen is too awesome to simply not have him return)
Mass Effect: Invasion - This particular novel/comic has similarities to its OTL version, but only a few similarities, months after the events of both ME2 and Arrival, there exists a tense peace between Cerberus and Aria T'Loak as she allows them to establish bases while salvaging the Collector base and the surrounding ships, chapters are focused on Aria contemplating on the Collector Base and its technology while also on several warlords in the Terminus mysteriously disappearing, Aria of course benefits from this as the warlords' deaths would mean less potential rivals to her status as the Terminus' De-Facto leader. A ship of with no identification then docks in Omega presumably delivering cargo, and before Aria's people can investigate the ship husk-like creatures burst out of the ship and begin attacking the guards. The crew of the ship also attack the guards all while one of them remarks on 'delivering the word of the Ascended' to the downtrodden people of Omega. Act 1 then spends the remaining chapters on Aria attempting to maintain control of Omega while the intruders and their husk-like minions wreak havok, with the help of unlikely allies, A small Cerberus fleet that managed to rout the blockade and land a several squads before being forced to retreat after a larger fleet arrives. Aria is forced to work with the newcomers after they tell her of their curent enemy and combatting them.
Act 2 opens up with the introduction of Cerberus General Oleg Petrovsky and his attempts to radio in all research bases while stating that the 'Pandora' protocol has been activated. One base radios in the midst of gunfire and tells the general of the base under attack after the 'Adjudants' are set loose. After that Petrovsky is ordered by someone codenamed 'Pandora' to retrieve as much as data and manpower as he can. The small Cerberus team on Omega manages to contact the general on the location of the cult and several adjudants. Petrovsky's fleet then arrive at Omega and despite the disadvantage in numbers the combined fleets of several Terminus Warlords (who are implied to be indoctrinated) are routed once more allowing Petrovsky to clear a path to Omega.
Act 3 starts with Aria and Petrovsky in a conversation with regards to the husk and the cult. Petrovsky then reveals what Cerberus have been trying to uncover since Sovereign's attack and admits to them biting off more than they could chew, when Aria criticizes Cerberus as a whole for trying to meddle with Reaper technology and demands to contact the Illusive Man Petrovsky drops another revelation. The Illusive Man was dead and Cerberus broken because of them getting inflitrated by the Cult of the Ascended. After this Petrovsky says that he has to fulfill TIM's final wishes, a victory against the Reapers at any cost. This alliance between Aria's forces and Oleg's is pyt to tge test in several chapters as while Aria's people destroy every Adjudants they encounter Oleg's try to preserve them for analysis even when it was clear that meddling with Reaper tech was a double edged sword. The Speaker of the Cult then launches another attack in an attempt to demoralize Omega's population and it reaches the climax when they reach the core and attempt to blow the station up if Aria and Cerberus do not surrender. Although an attempt is made to retake the core by Aria's top lieutenant, it ends in failure and Aria is forced to make a decision as Petrovsky's people retreat. Aria then boards a shuttle to one of the few ships she still controls and together the joint Omega-Cerberus fleet smash through the blockade while the remaining forces loyal to Aria buy the fleet time. Aria is then last seen looking at Omega from her ship and vows to put the Speaker's head on a pike. Petrovsky is briefed in the final chapter/panels on what occured and here it is revealed Pandora is none other than Miranda Lawson herself, she and an Asari Matriarch named Trilani then discuss the aftermath of what occured while also going with the data Petrovsky managed to recover. The final scene has Trilani assure the Cerberus agents as she contacts her friends while musing that the Sentinels were prepared for the coming storm.
Mass Effect: Pandora - This two part series covers the origins of the man who would later become The Illusive Man and his first contact with Reaper Technology and also covers the events after Arrival right up to Mass Effect: Invasion. While the first part covers on TIM's origins, the birth of Cerberus, the madness of Desolas Arterius, his eventual knowledge of both the Cult and the Sentinels and the brief alliance with Saren Arterius before the Turian's fall from grace, the second begins weeks after Commander Shepard is arrested with TIM already putting Cerberus in full mobilization status, it is here Maya Brooks, a high ranking officer in Cerberus who specializes in dealing with Reaper artifacts suggests to TIM of needing more manpower and already has a perfect template for such a project. TIM, knowing the need for numbers to combat the Reaper's ground forces approves of the plan despite General Petrovsky's objections. As the story progresses it is quite clear that TIM's mental health has deteriorated and his contact with a presumably reaper artifact back in the first part is finally catching up with him as he starts hallucinating his dead comrades. An incident that involved David Anderson and Prince Johann von Hohenzollern makes matters worse. Brooks meanwhile has an ulterior motive as she browses the Lazarus files (One of the major villains for TTL ME3 will be quite a surprise i assure you ) TIM then contacts Petrovsky and Miranda in the final chapter as he tells them of the legend of Pandora's box. And so here TIM activates the Pandora contigency as Lawson is the first to disconnect. TIM then tells Petrovsky words of assurance and to carry on the fight and assist Shepard before Petrovsky bids his fatewell and disconnects as wel. A series of events then occur as the new clone troopers start killing off Cerberus personnel as TIM sits in his office admiring the star while 'The Man Who Sold the World' plays on his computer, as the song ends Brooks and an unknown figure in Cerberus armor go inside TIM's office, Brooks and TIM have words to each other before TIM says that hope will prevail. Brooks gloats at his naivety as the unknown figure raises a pistol over TIM's head. A gunshot follows afterwards.
Mass Effect: Conviction - Not much difference from OTL as it involves Alliance Marine James Vega being assigned as Commander Shepard's prison guard, unlike OTL the story is expanded as Vega tries to deal with the fact that he's guarding a supposed hero of humanity. There's also brief interactions between Vega and Shepard (Though Shepard's gender and look is obviously kept vague).
Mass Effect: A Prince of the Reich - This three part series mostly focuses on a fan favorite character introduced in ME2, Prince Johann von Hohenzollern, a member if the Imperial family (The youngesr one at that, born a year before the first contact war) What's interesting about the first two parts is that not only does it deal with Johann's early life but Earth Culture being drastically different in the age of space travel and other sapient life. Parts 1 and 2 fleshes out how the nations of the Alliance currently look like as well as the vast difference in wealth between Earth and her colonies (This is lampshaded in ME2 with Horizon being an independent colony that reluctantly agreed to be aided by the Alliance) While Part 1: The Early Years is all about Johann's early life it also shows how the Reich and the Hohenzollerns are losing relevance and are only there because they just are (Kinda like the British Royal Family in OTL) while the Meritocratic system is still in place there's cracks in the system that makes running the country all the more trickier. And as a child he followed Kaiser Otto's footsteps and mingled with the poor in the lower class district (Thus explaining their odd friendship with Earthborn Shepard)
One of the highlights in part one is the reemergence of the pragmatic sanction as the crown prince of the Reich, Johann's older brother broke tradition by marrying an Asari, thus the question of an Asari empress of the Romans is made by those against the union (Mostly Terra Firma members) who say that since the offspring will be asari it will break the Hohenzollern line entirely. This leads to the rise of a Neo Maximist movement who want the crown prince to abdicate his title to any of his siblings, this complicates matters when the Kaiser somehow agrees to the union.
Part 2: Agent of Rome mostly deals with Johann's time in the military and brief fights in Russia and Eimerica before he decides to become an Athanatoi agent, and his dealings with the underworld during this time. Several chapters also has him mingling with high society on the Citadel, and eventually coming into contact with the mysterious Sentinels mere weeks before the Darker Powers side quest.
Part 3: The Coming Storm deals with the aftermath of the events of Arrival and has Johann team up with David Anderson (His position is kept vague here) regarding the Cult of the Ascended somehow managing to inflitrate C-Sec until it escalates to a near confrontation with Cerberus regarding alleged Leviathan Artifacts, the final chapter has Johann contemplate on whether or not there would still be an Earth left to save after the war was over.
And that about covers some lore tie in novels/comics, since with TTL ME3 being developed without EA I reckon it'll take a lot of time just to get every decision into account. Because of this Bioware releases the novels/comics to keep the fanbase giddy. Plus its during this time Bioware launches an Art contest to let fans have the creativity in making a Reaper Invasion scenario, there will be several winners of course. With the price getting a collector's edition of ME3 AND to have their work be animated in game (I'll be mentioning one of those who won once I start working on ME3's first half.)
Hope y'all find it interesting (I still have plans for TIM's role in ME3 btw, Martin Sheen is too awesome to simply not have him return)
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