The Hohenzollern Empire 5: Holy Phoenix - An Empire of Jerusalem Megacampaign in New World Order

[TWR97]

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)

 

[zenphoenix]

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.

Oh, that's going to be VERY controversial. Maybe when ME3 begins, there would be a sidequest focusing on this and on the imperial succession, with a large part of the population wanting the more popular Johann to succeed. It could be wrapped up with the Reaper invasion if the Reapers try to go after the royal family.

 

[zenphoenix]

The Artifact, Part 3​

Walter’s lab

“I’ll call Angie,” Anna said, “Thanks.”

As she hung up, Walter walked into the office.

“Anna, may I have a moment?” he asked.

“Sure,” Anna said, “What's up?”

“I, uh…” Walter said. “When I said goodbye to Willy, it was hard. Very hard.”

“Sure, it was,” Anna said, “Um, I'm sorry if I wasn’t…more considerate?”

“No, not that,” Walter said, “What I'm trying to say is that it was nothing, nothing compared to saying goodbye to my daughter.”

Anna tried walking to the door. “I have to call Angie.”

Walter stepped in her way. “Anna, you need to hear this. When Anna... my Anna... died... I lost all hope. The only thing keeping me alive then were Elisabeth and Anders, and my window into your world. I always told Willy we couldn't cross over, that it was far too dangerous. When I saw you were dying too, and that I was the only one who could save you…"

“...you kidnapped me, Walter,” Anna said, “You took me from my family. From my world.”

“I didn't plan to,” Walter said, “That was not my intention… I love you, Anna. And if I had to make the choice all over again, I'm not sure I'd be strong enough to act differently, but, now I understand it was wrong, I should never have crossed the line, it was terribly wrong.”

Anna sighed. “I can't talk about this yet, Walter.”

She walked around Walter and left.


Angela’s residence - 8:30 PM

“He saw my badge outside Bastian’s apartment,” Angelalt explained, “He thought he was bringing the box back to the authorities.”

“I'll come back after I'm done to help you with him,” Sebastian said, “It's too bad he's not blind. If you need me to take care of him…"

“No, I’ll take care of it, you just do your job,” Angelalt said, “And make sure you don't frak it up this time.”

She handed the box to Sebastian, who left the apartment. Angelalt took out her gun and attached a silencer to it. She walked up behind Joe, who sat on the couch.

“I’m sorry,” she said, shooting him in the back of the head.

Joe thudded to the ground, and Angelalt quickly dragged his body into the closet before too much blood pooled on the carpet and tiles. As she finished packing the body away, she heard someone knock on the door. She hid her gun and then opened it, finding Anna standing outside.

“Hey,” she said, “Did I come at a bad time?”

“No, not really,” Angelalt said, combing her hair nervously.

“I'm sorry,” Anna said, “I should have called before I came over. Mind if I come in?”

“Sure,” Angelalt said.

They sat down on the couch.

“So... Walter apologized to me,” Anna said, “I know it wouldn't take much. A few words, a hug, a couple hands of Uno. Anything would make the man feel better at this point, but... I just can't bring myself to do it. Sometimes I can't even look the guy in the eye."

“Well, you two have been through a lot,” Angelalt said, “You can't expect just to go back to the way it was before overnight. We all know this has been hard on you, Anna.”

“No, you have no idea,” Anna said, “I saw what Walter did. I saw the quarantine zones. I saw all the damage that he caused. He broke their world. My world."

“Well, he couldn't have known how bad it would get,” Angelalt said.

“Yeah. I mean, it's not like they gave him a picture of himself with fireballs coming out of his eyes while he was strapped into a doomsday machine,” Anna said.

“What picture?” Angelalt said.

“The one you showed me,” Anna said.

Angelalt faked a light chuckle.

“Oh, that one,” she said, “Yeah, almost forgot about that. Been forgetful lately, you know.”

Anna laughed back. “Guess almost being blown up outside that opera house does that, huh?”

“Oh, yes,” Angelalt said.

“Anyways, I can't close my eyes without seeing that picture,” Anna said, “And whatever is in those blueprints is my connection to that machine. What if they're right? What if that machine does exactly what Kurtz and Uncle Erich and Walter think it does? Is that my destiny, my fate? Am I supposed to destroy worlds too? Because, I'll be honest with you, I don't really want to turn out like Walter.”

Angelalt looked over Anna’s shoulder and saw blood was seeping under the door to the closet.

“Anna, the truth is I'm scared too,” she said, discretely pushing the carpet over the bloodstain with her foot, “The last few weeks have been hard on all of us. So, want to get some beer?”

“Uh, sure,” Anna said.

They got up and walked out.


Strasburg subway station - 9:00 PM

Sebastian walked into the station, the box in his hand, and sat next to a homeless man resting on a bench.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hi,” the homeless man said, “What’s that?”

“It’s, uh, a box,” Sebastian said.

“Well, what’s in it?” the homeless man asked.

“As with most things in life, the reality would pale in comparison with one's imagination,” Sebastian said, “You can have it, if you want. Go ahead and open it once I’m gone.”

“Really?” the homeless man said.

Sebastian handed him a hundred marks.

“Yeah, just don’t tell anybody you got it from me,” he said.

He handed the box to the homeless man and left.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

Oh, that's going to be VERY controversial. Maybe when ME3 begins, there would be a sidequest focusing on this and on the imperial succession, with a large part of the population wanting the more popular Johann to succeed. It could be wrapped up with the Reaper invasion if the Reapers try to go after the royal family.

That idea slightly sounds like a ground work for a potential loyalty mission for Johann if he joins Shepard´s crew in ME3 actually. Maybe their would be side quest where Shepard helps Johann by sorting out what the Hohenzollern family in exile role in the war against the reapers would be and try to reconcile the succession controversy, with numerous options on how to handle it since this is Mass Effect and player choice is very important to the series. This might have consequences of how the liberation of Earth goes, with Johann either becoming the new Kaiser or remaining on Shepard´s crew and letting Johann´s sibling take the reigns of rallying the Alliance war effort (since I imagine Johann would be hesitant to become the new Kaiser).

Maybe ME3 can keep the loyalty missions introduced from the previous game and have loyalty missions for Shepard´s squad mates like Javik or Vega. I don´t think returning squad mates like Liara, Tali, the Virmire Survivor or Garrus would have loyalty missions since they are already loyal from previous games, so I guess which squadmates get loyalty missions would be more selective than ME2 where they all got one, so only new crew mates would get loyalty missions unless it resolves a old squadmate´s storyarch like Tali´s mission to the Quarian home world and reconciliation between the Quarians and Geth, among other character specific arcs.

 

[TWR97]

Impending doom that might just happen in the Hohenzollernverse and Angiealt decides to take Anna for beer, that's funny AND terrifying at the same time

Oh yeah I have plans for the new crew's loyalty mission since both Javik's and Vega's storylines will be fleshed out. With that said, ME3's prologue will be REALLY nasty and tragic for the Imperial family. Especially since Reapers tend to not discriminate targets. Also Harbinger will have a bigger role in ME3, I always found his villanous potential to be wasted by ME3, granted it IS the reaper invasion after but I always saw Harbinger as the biggest bad of the entire series. Thus Harbinger will have a sort-of Agent Smith role to Shepard's messianic Neo. I figured the 'You are bacteria' from OTL ME2 has a deeper meaning to it, more than just calling em puny.

 

[zenphoenix]

That idea slightly sounds like a ground work for a potential loyalty mission for Johann if he joins Shepard´s crew in ME3 actually. Maybe their would be side quest where Shepard helps Johann by sorting out what the Hohenzollern family in exile role in the war against the reapers would be and try to reconcile the succession controversy, with numerous options on how to handle it since this is Mass Effect and player choice is very important to the series. This might have consequences of how the liberation of Earth goes, with Johann either becoming the new Kaiser or remaining on Shepard´s crew and letting Johann´s sibling take the reigns of rallying the Alliance war effort (since I imagine Johann would be hesitant to become the new Kaiser).

Maybe ME3 can keep the loyalty missions introduced from the previous game and have loyalty missions for Shepard´s squad mates like Javik or Vega. I don´t think returning squad mates like Liara, Tali, the Virmire Survivor or Garrus would have loyalty missions since they are already loyal from previous games, so I guess which squadmates get loyalty missions would be more selective than ME2 where they all got one, so only new crew mates would get loyalty missions unless it resolves a old squadmate´s storyarch like Tali´s mission to the Quarian home world and reconciliation between the Quarians and Geth, among other character specific arcs.

I was going at the Reapers massacring the entire royal family except for Johann or the brother renounces his claim to the throne after the invasion, but that works too.

Impending doom that might just happen in the Hohenzollernverse and Angiealt decides to take Anna for beer, that's funny AND terrifying at the same time

Oh yeah I have plans for the new crew's loyalty mission since both Javik's and Vega's storylines will be fleshed out. With that said, ME3's prologue will be REALLY nasty and tragic for the Imperial family. Especially since Reapers tend to not discriminate targets. Also Harbinger will have a bigger role in ME3, I always found his villanous potential to be wasted by ME3, granted it IS the reaper invasion after but I always saw Harbinger as the biggest bad of the entire series. Thus Harbinger will have a sort-of Agent Smith role to Shepard's messianic Neo. I figured the 'You are bacteria' from OTL ME2 has a deeper meaning to it, more than just calling em puny.

Meanwhile, Anders is still clueless. To me, that's even more terrifying. He's the paranoid one.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

Impending doom that might just happen in the Hohenzollernverse and Angiealt decides to take Anna for beer, that's funny AND terrifying at the same time

Oh yeah I have plans for the new crew's loyalty mission since both Javik's and Vega's storylines will be fleshed out. With that said, ME3's prologue will be REALLY nasty and tragic for the Imperial family. Especially since Reapers tend to not discriminate targets. Also Harbinger will have a bigger role in ME3, I always found his villanous potential to be wasted by ME3, granted it IS the reaper invasion after but I always saw Harbinger as the biggest bad of the entire series. Thus Harbinger will have a sort-of Agent Smith role to Shepard's messianic Neo. I figured the 'You are bacteria' from OTL ME2 has a deeper meaning to it, more than just calling em puny.

Yeah, I agree that Harbinger was kind of wasted in OTL, he did have the potenital to have the same sort of gravitas Soverign did in ME1 but he ended up didn´t which was a shame. I also like how you maintained Cerberus´ moral ambiguity too, I espically like how the Illusive Man went down fighting here even if he probably is going to come back. OTL ME3 having Cerberus getting indoctrinated without a fight was misstep I was disapointed by, espically since I felt the Illusive Man was an intresting character in ME2 with alot of potenital (through I personally prefer Saren more when it comes to ME villans), so I do appreciate the narrative redemption you wrote for Cerberus. I mean, I still do love alot of things about Mass Effect 3 (the conclusion to certain story arcs like the Genophage and the Quarian-Geth struggle among other wrap ups was well done) despite a lot of other flaws (besides the ending of course.) so there are some aspects of ME3 we can improve on.

Also Zen, you may want to include @TWR97 recent Mass Effect post to the table of contents if you haven´t already. Just a heads up.

 

[zenphoenix]

Yeah, I agree that Harbinger was kind of wasted in OTL, he did have the potenital to have the same sort of gravitas Soverign did in ME1 but he ended up didn´t which was a shame. I also like how you maintained Cerberus´ moral ambiguity too, I espically like how the Illusive Man went down fighting here even if he probably is going to come back. OTL ME3 having Cerberus getting indoctrinated without a fight was misstep I was disapointed by, espically since I felt the Illusive Man was an intresting character in ME2 with alot of potenital (through I personally prefer Saren more when it comes to ME villans), so I do appreciate the narrative redemption you wrote for Cerberus. I mean, I still do love alot of things about Mass Effect 3 (the conclusion to certain story arcs like the Genophage and the Quarian-Geth struggle among other wrap ups was well done) despite a lot of other flaws (besides the ending of course.) so there are some aspects of ME3 we can improve on.

Also Zen, you may want to include @TWR97 recent Mass Effect post to the table of contents if you haven´t already. Just a heads up.

I'll get on that.

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

Man, the alternate dimension's X-Division is a pale comparison to the Hohenzollern's. Apparently all that funding made them lazy.

 

[zenphoenix]

Man, the alternate dimension's X-Division is a pale comparison to the Hohenzollern's. Apparently all that funding made them lazy.

Walternate took up all of their ambition.

 

[TWR97]

Plus the Hohenzollernverse has Spooky Anders and his obssession with Sentinel, that kept things very interesting, while I don't picture Annionaverse Annie being the same despite sharing the same goal, probably why their X-Division there pales in comparison to the Hohenzollernverse's. Hell I doubt the Cigarette Man even exists in the Annionaverse (The thought of TWO Cigarette Men would be utterly terrifying , forget Walternate those two meeting up would be so terrifying Pavel would cream his pants)


Aight so starting off, Mass Effect 3 begins with a scene that mirrors the opening of the first game with a more darker and menacing version of the first game's theme plays, the scene begins with an Alliance station with personnel running around while klaxons are blaring, the scene then cuts to various Alliance fleets gathering around Earth as Hackett, Anderson and Udina discuss something massive gathering outside Alliance Space as various Alliance outposts suddenly goes dark. Udina then asks if this is what Shepard has warned everyone about with Anderson replying that he'd stake his life on it. Hackett then contacts the rest of the admirals in preparation as Anderson utters a prayer to Saints Willhelmina and Gunhilda.

Cut to an opening text on the events leading to Mass Effect 3. The scene then shifts to that of an Alliance fighter presumably flying over Constantinople as the Statue of Romanitas could be seen in the distance, it then pans out to show it is merely a toy being carried by a child dressed in expensive clothing (The child's gender is opposite to that of Shepard thereby making the opening sequence already unique). Shepard is then shown smiling at the child from where they are before James Vega marches in to bring Shepard to a military council, Shepard is then escorted by a small group of soldiers led by the Virmire Survivor, there's several conversations Shepard can initiate and it is revealed that the Alliance has kept Shepard in the dark on what has happened for the last few months after Arrival for their own safety (Thus giving newcomers who have only played the third game and those who have not read the interim stories an excuse on their ignorance) as they pass through the air around them is tense as various Alliance personnel are running around with Alliance fighters patrolling in the sky. Shepard then meets up both Anderson and Prince Johann (Anderson in admiral attire and Johann in clothing befitting his status as an imperial family member) and they too escort Shepard to where the council is waiting, both Anderson and Johann then answer whatever questions Shepard has, chief among them being Anderson stepping down from his position (Either as the Human Councillor or a liason to the Alliance led council)due to his connections as Shepard's mentor with Udina replacing him. They all arrive at court where the council has Shepard confirm their suspicions to which Shepard does confirm (Either by berating the council or outright honesty) while also telling the gathered officers that the choice was either to fight or die.

One of the officers then report on massive ships in the Sol System (Thus the consequences of the first game are then made known here) with Luna Base either taken out directly or under heavy bombardment. Anderson remarks on how fast things were going with booming noises are heard from the sky, and just like what Sovereign said to Shepard back in 2183, one of the landing Reapers darkens the sky where the building they were all standing on. The Reaper bombards the building, presumably killing off most of the current occupants inside. The prologue then truly begins as Constantinople turns into a battlefield as Shepard, Anderson and Johann attempt to rendevous with the Virmire Survivor and the Gibraltar (Which was currently docked somewhere in the Galata space port), the escalation of the game into a war is truly felt as the Reapers begin bombarding buildings, The Hagia Sophia's towering prescence is overshadowed by a capital ship beside it, it fires off chunks of the cathedral (Whether it is for intimidation is up to the player), with the appearance of husks and Batarian looking husks making their debut fighting ground forces (Players can also catch a glimpse of a Varangian guard getting overwhelmed), it is here they come across said varangian squad and a dying member who tells Johann that they get his nephew/niece to safety, Shepard is the one who interacts with the child and after words of assurance follows them (A short escort side mission), as the trio fight near the port they catch a glimpse of another capital ship fighting a Roman wet navy, the differences in tech is felt as the Reaper easily destroys one of the destroyers with ease. It then proceeds to destroy the Statue of Romanitas as a blatant display of the Reapers' intimidating might. The trio attempt to activate an emergency beacon as hordes of Batarian and Human husks converge on their location with Shepard telling the child to hunker down. A firefight occurs as the capital ship responsible for destroying the statue of Romanitas walks towards the remaining wet navy, thus sparing the trio from getting fired. Just as Shepard runs out of ammo the remaining husks are then bombarded by the Gibraltar (Now in Alliance colors) as it touches down alongside several shuttles, a couple of Varangian guard then escort the child and attempt to do the same with Johann who insists on the child's paramount safety above his, Just as the shuttle carrying Johann's nephew/niece take off and reunite with a couple more shuttles they are blasted to bits by a reaper destroyer, Anderson then urges the remaining shuttles and the Gibraltar to take off as the Destroyer gets distracted by shells from Roman tanks. Johann curses the reapers upon witnessing the deaths of his family while Shepard attempts to get Anderson to evacuate as well, Anderson refuses as he intends to help rally the resistance, when Johann attempts to join the admiral refuses insisting that he has more uses in helping Shepard convince the rest of the galaxy. Shepard is then reinstated on the spot as the Gibraltar and the rest of the remaining shuttles take off. A haunting melody begins playing as Shepard begins witnessing the Reaper invasion first hand.

As the Gibraltar begins its final ascent into the sky the scene shifts to a street battle right at the very doors of Hagia Sophia, its doors have been broken and it is clear the remaining ground forces are in dire position. The Ecunemical Patriarch then walks out of the Cathedral, his robes torn and with a bloody rosary bead on his left hand and encourages the armed forces to fight on (Though the scene only has the music play and keeps everything else in silence), one of the Capital ships which spotted thd Gibraltar but was already out of range by then appears in full view of the Patriarch's, the man picks up a fallen soldier's Avenger rifle just as the Reaper turns to face those intially resisting. The patriarch briefly glares at the Reaper before wrapping the rosary around the rifle and open fires, the rest of the groubd forces follow suit, the Reaper then fires its weapon in retaliation (This is one of the winning entries btw, the folks at TTL Bioware loved it and decide to make it a reality). The scene then shifts to wreckages of Alliance ships as the camera pans on Earth, then the soundtrack ends just as the title screen comes into view.

I'll be working on the first act as well as the game mechanics in ME3 once I can gather my thoughts again but I hope you fellas find this version of the ME3 prologue just as tense, awesome and utterly gut wrenching just as OTL

 

[zenphoenix]

Plus the Hohenzollernverse has Spooky Anders and his obssession with Sentinel, that kept things very interesting, while I don't picture Annionaverse Annie being the same despite sharing the same goal, probably why their X-Division there pales in comparison to the Hohenzollernverse's. Hell I doubt the Cigarette Man even exists in the Annionaverse (The thought of TWO Cigarette Men would be utterly terrifying , forget Walternate those two meeting up would be so terrifying Pavel would cream his pants)

Annie doesn't seem to be aware of Sentinel, if it even exists (but maybe that's what they want you to believe and they were responsible for what happens in 2018). She originally joined the X-Division to find her Anders, but her work patching up the tears in the universe Walter caused took precedence and eventually became her top priority.

Alternates of the smoking man and Pavel aren't in my current drafts, and I don't know how I could fit them in or if I want to fit them in. But I just can't pass up the chance to have two smoking men and two Pavels.

That intro was seriously something. Intense doesn't even come close to describing it.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

Very interesting prologue for Mass Effect 3 @TWR97, the rest of the ME3 summary will be quite exciting no doubt.

I find the religious symbolism you included in the intro (most obliviously the Ecumenical Patriarch making a stand against the Reapers) quite notably as well and since you mentioned that all the games would have themes of mystiscim throughout, I picture ME3 would have alot of relgious imagery through out the game, taking symbolism from Ragnork (since Norse is a revlant faith in TTL), Judgment Day and other relgious imagery usually associated with the end of the world. I kind also imagine we could delve more into the religious of the other species of Mass Effect perhaps, maybe with some mentions of an Asari or Turian equivalent of Ragnork somewhere in the world building of ME3. At least thats how I imagine some of the symbolism in ME3 could go, there might also be more subtly religious motifs that I´m not sure about as well as a lot of philosophical moments somewhere there given the nature of the Reaper invasion.

I also found this vocal cover by Malukah and I was thinking maybe you could have the game possibly somewhere at the end of game, to contrast the solemn melody at the begining of the game. I don´t think it would be much of a strech for Bioware to contact Malukah and ask her to make a song for game given her fan work for other games like Skyrim.

Through Miracle of Sound could also be a good opition for Bioware to go to as well, but I suggested Malukah given the mood of the game and it being the end of a long running trilogy, so I think that would be more appropriate. Its ultimately your choice @TWR97.

I´d also suggest breaking off the ending and epilogue off as its seprate post from the previous acts like what you did with the intro so that you could craft as extensive and epic of an ending/epilogue as you wish. And also to keep us hungering a little bit for a bit longer after the posts for the three main acts of the game. It’s again your choice.

 

[GhostRider124]

I love how you seem to be exploring more of the technology of this advanced ancient human civilization. Technology that causes light bulb's to shatter, and causes people to go into a trance, as well as causing them to bleed from their noses and ears would be pretty bad if it got into the wrong hands.

I do hope in the future you could go into a bit more detail about the advanced ancient human civilization itself. Like its culture, government and did it control just Earth or was it a space faring civilization that lost a war and was devolved to what we think of as ancient humans in OTL such as what happened to Humanity in the Halo franchise. https://www.halopedia.org/Ancient_humanity and

I was also wondering what the parts of the story like Homecoming (1 2 3 4) (11 May 2010 - 25 May 2010) and The Artifact (1 2 3 4) (25 May 2010 - ) are called since they aren't chapters. I know they aren't side stories since these parts go inline with the chapters plot wise.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

I love how you seem to be exploring more of the technology of this advanced ancient human civilization. Technology that causes light bulb's to shatter, and causes people to go into a trance, as well as causing them to bleed from their noses and ears would be pretty bad if it got into the wrong hands.

I do hope in the future you could go into a bit more detail about the advanced ancient human civilization itself. Like its culture, government and did it control just Earth or was it a space faring civilization that lost a war and was devolved to what we think of as ancient humans in OTL such as what happened to Humanity in the Halo franchise. https://www.halopedia.org/Ancient_humanity and

I was also wondering what the parts of the story like Homecoming (1 2 3 4) (11 May 2010 - 25 May 2010) and The Artifact (1 2 3 4) (25 May 2010 - ) are called since they aren't chapters. I know they aren't side stories since these parts go inline with the chapters plot wise.

You actually brought something I noticed too and that is the similarity between Ancient Humans in this AAR and Ancient Humans in Halo actually, it’s actually quite the unique conquisdence actually since I doubt Zen has played much of halo before to get inspiration from it. I’m also thinking we could perhaps do some Halo summaries to discuss in depth what it would be like here after @TWR97 is done with his Mass Effect summaries, but that is for another time since I’m not the best person to provide an detailed summary despite being a fan.

 

[zenphoenix]

I find the religious symbolism you included in the intro (most obliviously the Ecumenical Patriarch making a stand against the Reapers) quite notably as well and since you mentioned that all the games would have themes of mystiscim throughout, I picture ME3 would have alot of relgious imagery through out the game, taking symbolism from Ragnork (since Norse is a revlant faith in TTL), Judgment Day and other relgious imagery usually associated with the end of the world. I kind also imagine we could delve more into the religious of the other species of Mass Effect perhaps, maybe with some mentions of an Asari or Turian equivalent of Ragnork somewhere in the world building of ME3. At least thats how I imagine some of the symbolism in ME3 could go, there might also be more subtly religious motifs that I´m not sure about as well as a lot of philosophical moments somewhere there given the nature of the Reaper invasion.

Perhaps all of the major alien religions would have similar end of days legends, maybe stemming from contact with the few surviving Protheans or their technology or seeing the Reapers destroy the Protheans and other advanced civilizations.

I love how you seem to be exploring more of the technology of this advanced ancient human civilization. Technology that causes light bulb's to shatter, and causes people to go into a trance, as well as causing them to bleed from their noses and ears would be pretty bad if it got into the wrong hands.

I want to make it clear this specific technology isn't meant to do that and is an outlier regarding ancient human technology. More details will come in future updates and Stellaris. But yeah, it's like Ancient technology from Stargate. It wasn't designed for use by modern humans, which causes all sorts of health issues.

I do hope in the future you could go into a bit more detail about the advanced ancient human civilization itself. Like its culture, government and did it control just Earth or was it a space faring civilization that lost a war and was devolved to what we think of as ancient humans in OTL such as what happened to Humanity in the Halo franchise.

I actually was inspired a lot by Halo's ancient humans in writing my ancient humans. To answer your question, Angela's visions in Message in a Bottle show it was a spacefaring civilization with colonies on several planets which was destroyed in a so far unexplained cataclysm. I'll explain more in the next few updates and in a couple updates of the next story arc. I'll leave what exactly that cataclysm was up to you for now. But I've left hints to the cataclysm in Hohenzollernverse Annie's dialogue.

I was also wondering what the parts of the story like Homecoming (1 2 3 4) (11 May 2010 - 25 May 2010) and The Artifact (1 2 3 4) (25 May 2010 - ) are called since they aren't chapters. I know they aren't side stories since these parts go inline with the chapters plot wise.

I've taken to calling them updates, with each spoiler block of updates (the current one is "The Machine") called an arc and related arcs (like 1992-2001 and 2009-now) the story arcs. Sometimes I'll refer to them as chapters, although they haven't been numbered chapters since HOI3. I know, it's really confusing, I've gotten confused myself a couple times.

You actually brought something I noticed too and that is the similarity between Ancient Romans in this AAR and Ancient Humans in Halo actually, it’s actually quite the unique conquisdence actually since I doubt Zen has played much of halo before to get inspiration from it. I’m also thinking we could perhaps do some Halo summaries to discuss in depth what it would be like here after @TWR97 is done with his Mass Effect summaries, but that is for another time since I’m not the best person to provide an detailed summary despite being a fan.

I've actually played a little Halo a few years ago and refreshed my memory of the lore with some Youtube let's plays recently. I still get flashbacks to my cousin killing me at my spawn point hundreds of times in a row with a golf club. Halo summaries would some great, but I don't think I have good ideas for how to redo them, and I'm currently busy doing Call of Duty summaries for the games I played in the past (Modern Warfare, World at War, and Black Ops I and II) and finally getting around to doing some character bios you've all been suggesting.

 

[zenphoenix]

The Artifact, Part 4​

9:30 PM

Anders parked the Impala at the entrance to the station, and he, Angelalt, Anna, and Walter got out and walked inside.

“And I only got one drink in,” Anna complained.

“We can always get more tomorrow evening,” Angelalt said.

Anders looked at her. “What about the afternoon? Or happy hour?”

“Oh, yeah, we could do that too,” Angelalt said.

“Kirchenstrasse,” Walter said, “I frequented a massage parlor just around the corner. I used to get off right here.”

“I sure hope you're talking about the station, Walter,” Anna said.

They met Olga, Diana, Erich, and Kurtz at the entrance to the loading platform. Five victims motionlessly stood around the platform.

“We got five victims, maybe more unaccounted for,” Erich said, “All mobile, but unresponsive. They're in a trance, likely dead. Every subway station in Strasburg is being evacuated. Security cameras picked up a small man walking into the tunnel carrying a metallic box.”

Anders observed each of the victims. “These people seem to be suffering from the same symptoms as the victims in Cologne.”

“Yes, we're thinking the box might be what the thieves dug up there,” Kurtz said.

“What about the trains?” Anna said.

“System runs on a computer,” Diana said, “We've stopped all trains in the network.”

A police officer walked over to them. “Bomb squad's ready to deploy a man in the tunnel.”

“Bomb squad?” Anders said. “It's not a bomb. You send them in, they’ll be killed.”

“That tunnel leads straight to another station,” Olga said, “If this box is mobile, we have to stop it before it gets there. You have a better idea?”

“Yeah, I'll go,” Anna said.

“Anna, you can’t,” Walter said, “It's too dangerous.”

“The box is our responsibility, Walter,” Anna said, “And if I can get in front of it, maybe I can disarm it.”

"No, no, no,” Walter stammered, “I haven't had time to devise something to protect you from the sound emissions.”

“I'm sure you guys have some sort of ear protection, right?” Anna said to Anders.

“The frequencies are ultrasonic,” Anders said, “Simple noise cancellation won't work.”

“I'd have to disable all impulses along the cochlear nerve,” Walter said.

“My men are standing by, Agents,” the officer said.

“Anna, I have to make a call here,” Erich said.

“What is it, Walter?” Anna said.

“The science is tenuous to say the least,” Walter said.

“Walter, if you have a way to put me in front of that box, you have to tell me now,” Anna said, “Walter, talk to me.”

Walter sighed. “Angie, we need your gun.”


9:45 PM

Anna put on a tactical vest with a microphone attached.

“So how long have I got?” she said.

“I don't know,” Walter said.

“If you can hear us talking, it's too late,” Anders said.

“Well, ballpark it for me, Walter,” Anna said.

“Maximum, three minutes,” Walter said.

Angelalt took out her gun. “You ready?”

Anna nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Angelalt pointed her pistol next to Anna’s left ear and fired. Then she fired another shot next to her right ear. The two gunshots set off a piercing ringing noise throughout Anna’s ears, rendering her temporarily deaf. She felt dizzy for a few seconds, but that subsided as she got used to the ringing. She turned to the team and made a thumbs-up. Then she walked off the platform and entered the tunnel. Turning on her flashlight, she soon found the homeless man, still carrying the box, which was open now. She tapped her radio.

“I see it,” she said, not hearing her own words.

The homeless man’s head exploded.

“That’s not something you see every day,” Anna said, “Anders, feel free to dispute that when I get back.”

She took the box and walked away from the homeless man’s mangled body. She studied the box and its contents for a couple seconds before realizing what it was.

“I know what this is,” she said, “It's a piece of the machine on the other side. I recognize it from Walternate's blueprints.”

On the platform, Erich turned to the rest of the team.

“The machine?” he said. “How's that possible?”

“It looks like the box was soundproof,” Anna said, “But it's broken. I can't close it. I'm going to try to disarm it.”

In the tunnel, she began attaching connectors, sensors, and clamps to the wires inside the box. One sensor measured the level of audio output from the box. She cut one wire, but the output didn’t decrease. On the platform, Walter nervously looked at his watch.

“She hasn't spoken for 71 seconds,” he said, “Something is wrong. Her hearing could come back at any time. We need to send someone in.”

“I can't send another man in there, Walter,” Erich said.

“She could be hurt,” Walter said, “She could be dy…”

Angelalt held up her hand. “Hey, do you hear that?”

They heard a train approaching.

“Oh, scheiße,” Erich cursed.

Kurtz took out his walkie-talkie. “I thought all the trains were stopped!”

“The device affected the subway's communication system,” Anders said, “Frak.”

Angelalt jumped from the platform and raced toward Anna.

“Angie, wait!” Erich shouted. “You can't go in there!”

In the tunnel, Anna clipped another wire, and the audio output finally dropped to zero. The box had been disabled. Relieved, she wiped her brow. Then she sensed something wasn’t right, though she couldn’t hear it. She touched the rail next to her, which rumbled. She turned around to see a train hurtling toward her just as Angelalt tackled her into a shallow alcove. The train rolled by them.


10:00 PM

Medical examiners zipped closed a body bag on the dead homeless man, while Walter looked with interest at the mess where his head was supposed to be.

“For a catastrophic explosion like that, I imagine he had a surgical implant,” he remarked, “Dental ceramic crowns. If they were to vibrate at just the right resonant frequency... I always hated dentists.”

Anders rolled his eyes while Diana and Anna looked at the box.

“And you're sure this is part of the weapon?” Diana asked.

“Yeah, looks like the parts I saw on the other side,” Anna said, “And we know Walternate has agents over here. Maybe they're looking for the missing pieces, the ones he couldn't find there.”

“Why would there be pieces on our side?” Diana said.

“You got a better explanation?” Anna said. “We’re talking about two universes here. Two of each one of us.”

“At this point, Di, would anything really surprise us?” Anders said.

Walter waltzed over to them. “Bacon-flavored pudding. That would surprise me.”

Anna took back the box and put it in a glass container.

“I'd like to take this back to the lab,” she asked Kurtz, “Maybe I can figure it out.”

“Okay,” Kurtz said.

As Anna left with Anders and Diana, Erich walked over to Walter.

“Today was a bad day,” Erich said, “But it could have been a lot worse. Your quick thinking saved a lot of lives, Walter. Good work.”

He patted Walter on the shoulder as he walked away. Alone, Walter took out the key to Tesla’s safety deposit box and looked at it tentatively.


One of Olga’s safe houses - 11:00 PM

Walter walked up to the door and cautiously knocked twice. Olga opened it.

“Uh, hi, Walter,” she said.

“I know what Willy left me,” Walter said.

“What is it?” Olga said.

Walter took out an envelope he had found in Tesla’s safety deposit box. He opened it, revealing a stack of Tesla Dynamic shares.

“A controlling stake,” he said, “I’m the largest shareholder now. Willy left me Tesla Dynamic.”


Antiques shop, Constantinople - May 28, 2010, 4:00 AM

Angelalt entered the backroom and sat down at the typewriter. She rolled in a fresh piece of paper and began typing.

ANNA HAS FIRST PIECE.

SHE IS ACTIVELY ENGAGED.

She waited a few seconds. The typewriter then printed a reply:

UNDERSTOOD.

BEGIN WORK ON DR. HUMBOLDT.

 

[GhostRider124]

I’m also thinking we could perhaps do some Halo summaries to discuss in depth what it would be like here after @TWR97 is done with his Mass Effect summaries, but that is for another time since I’m not the best person to provide an detailed summary despite being a fan.

Halo summaries would some great, but I don't think I have good ideas for how to redo them

One way you could do them is a mix of the Isu from the Assassin's Creed series and Ancient humanity from the Halo series in were an advanced humanoid slaves space faring civilization colonized Earth in the distant past. They were so advanced that they could make things like dyson spheres, artificial planet’s, and even create life. I'm using a bit of inspiration from the Christian Bible as well since that is the only creation myth I know for the most part. When they landed on Earth they found an ancient form of monkey. They then used genetic modification to create a slave race in their image. In the beginning they could have created two prototypes a man and a woman. This could be TTL’s Adam and Eve. After these first two experiments were deemed a success they would go on to create many more slaves. Over the next couple thousand years the ancient human slave race (could be known today as hominem antiqui Latin for Ancient human according to Google translate) did as they were told. Maybe kept in line with technology like the Pieces of Eden from Assassin’s Creed or maybe the advanced humanoid space faring civilization were psychic and could control the minds of the slaves. However over time these slaves would find a way to resist this control and start a rebellion and in the end were able to win their freedom. With control of Earth (probably called something else back then) under ancient humanity’s control they used the captured technology against their creators and exterminated them. Over time ancient human civilization would go the same way that the ancient humans of the Halo series. In that they would create a space faring civilization themselves. They would later lose a war against a more powerful civilization and were devolved to what we think of as modern humans today in OTL. Feel free to use this example as a template as long as you give credit.

 

[zenphoenix]

One way you could do them is a mix of the Isu from the Assassin's Creed series and Ancient humanity from the Halo series in were an advanced humanoid slaves space faring civilization colonized Earth in the distant past. They were so advanced that they could make things like dyson spheres, artificial planet’s, and even create life. I'm using a bit of inspiration from the Christian Bible as well since that is the only creation myth I know for the most part. When they landed on Earth they found an ancient form of monkey. They then used genetic modification to create a slave race in their image. In the beginning they could have created two prototypes a man and a woman. This could be TTL’s Adam and Eve. After these first two experiments were deemed a success they would go on to create many more slaves. Over the next couple thousand years the ancient human slave race (could be known today as hominem antiqui Latin for Ancient human according to Google translate) did as they were told. Maybe kept in line with technology like the Pieces of Eden from Assassin’s Creed or maybe the advanced humanoid space faring civilization were psychic and could control the minds of the slaves. However over time these slaves would find a way to resist this control and start a rebellion and in the end were able to win their freedom. With control of Earth (probably called something else back then) under ancient humanity’s control they used the captured technology against their creators and exterminated them. Over time ancient human civilization would go the same way that the ancient humans of the Halo series. In that they would create a space faring civilization themselves. They would later lose a war against a more powerful civilization and were devolved to what we think of as modern humans today in OTL. Feel free to use this example as a template as long as you give credit.

Hmm, that is an interesting idea. I did want to take some inspirations from Assassin's Creed as well, but I focused more on Halo and other "ancient human" sci-fi tropes (Battlestar Galactica and Stargate most of all). I don't want to have humanity be created as a slave race, as that would fall into a bunch of tropes I don't want to do, and I want ancient humanity to be responsible for its own advances and achievements. Ancient humanity also won't be responsible for building some of the ancient monuments many in OTL believe were created by them (pyramids, Sphinx, etc.) because that would be disrespectful to the people who actually built them. I might still include a forerunner race introduced in Stellaris based on some of my older drafts (not any of the vanilla precursors), but I haven't worked out the details yet or if I want to include them.

 

[CaptainAlvious]

Hmm, that is an interesting idea. I did want to take some inspirations from Assassin's Creed as well, but I focused more on Halo and other "ancient human" sci-fi tropes (Battlestar Galactica and Stargate most of all). I don't want to have humanity be created as a slave race, as that would fall into a bunch of tropes I don't want to do, and I want ancient humanity to be responsible for its own advances and achievements. Ancient humanity also won't be responsible for building some of the ancient monuments many in OTL believe were created by them (pyramids, Sphinx, etc.) because that would be disrespectful to the people who actually built them. I might still include a forerunner race introduced in Stellaris based on some of my older drafts (not any of the vanilla precursors), but I haven't worked out the details yet or if I want to include them.

Sounds interesting, in fact maybe this could also be a factor for how Aliens could interact with humanity in Stallaris. Perhaps the Alien Civilizations unaware of humanities space fareing past could be relatively indifferent to them, xenophiles could be act with intrest to them and the Stagnat Accendeancies that were probably around during humanity’s previous position in the galaxy would react with worry towards humans. At least that’s how humanity relationship with alien civilizations could go among other routes.

Also just as a friendly reminder, you should probably include TWR97’s post for the ME3 intro as usual.