Timeline

Timeline



Pre-Council Era

This era is called the Pre-Council Era. The earliest event in Mass Effect History is the disabling of a Reaper, a highly advanced, organic, sentient starship, by an unknown race 37,000,000 years before the discovery of the Citadel. This derelict reaper began orbiting Mnemosyne, thought to be dead.

A few million years later, the only spacefaring race of their time, the Protheans, established a vast empire spanning across the galaxy. Using what was though to be their own technology and the Mass Relays, the Protheans linked together their civilization before mysteriously disappearing in 48,000 BCE.

Fast forward 48,000 years later and the Asari, while experimenting with Mass Relay technology, stumble upon The Citadel in the Serpent Nebula. This marks the start of the Council Era and the Galactic Standard timeline.

Important Facts:

Derelict Reaper Protheans Vanish Mass Relay Lost Citadel Discovered Council era
 * 37,000,000 BCE: 37 million years before the founding of the Citadel Council, an unknown race fired off a giant mass accelerator round of devastating power. This round ripped through a Reaper, a highly advanced organic, sentient starship.
 * 48,000 BCE: The Protheans' reach spans countless galaxies and planets and their empire grows to enormous proportions before they mysteriously vanish. The Mass Relay and the Citadel is believed to be leftover Prothean technology. Krogan Holocaust
 * 1900 BCE: The Krogans, native to Tuchanka, discover nuclear power. Unfortunately, this spirals out of control and WMDs go off, causing global devastation. As a result, the Krogans fall into a primitive, savage, clan-based society.
 * 1800 BCE: A supernova explodes, propelling the Mass Relay, the only Mass Relay connected to the Pangaea Expanse. The relay is lost in the abyss of space and the Pangea Expanse is cut off.
 * 580 BCE: While experimenting with what was thought to be Prothean technology, the Asari start exploring the various Mass Relays and where they lead. Eventually, they stumble upon the Citadel and set up camp. 60 years later, the Salarians find the Citadel and open diplomatic relations with the Asari.

20 years after the Salarians meet up with the Asari on the newly discovered Citadel, the two races form the Citadel Council. This marks the beginning of the Council Era and the Galactic Standard Timeline. The new council makes contact with the Volus and recruit them to form the Unified Banking Act. This act establishes galactic currency, linking every economy.

While all this diplomacy is going on, the Turians are in a state of civil war. The Turians were experimenting with the Mass Relays around the same time the Asari and Salarians were, expanding their empire with colonies. Eventually, the colonies became sour towards the Turian Hierarchy and wanted to branch off. After decades of fighting, the civil war finally stopped.

300 years later, the Citadel is flooded with new races and inhabitants. The Volus, Batarians, Elcor, Hanar and Quarians are granted embassies on the Citadel.

200 years after the Citadel's expansion, an exploration team opens an inactive Mass Relay leading to the Rachni homeworld, hive-minded insect-like creatures. The Rachni attack, and the Rachni Wars begin. The war rages on for 80 years before the Council finds the broken Krogan home world. They trick the Krogans into fighting against the Rachni for them. Due to the Krogan skills as warriors, the Rachni are declared extinct in a little over 200 years. As a reward, the Krogans are given an entire planet. The Krogan population explodes, causing the Citadel to form the Spectres. After an attack by the Spectres, the Krogan Rebellions begin.

100 years after the Krogan Rebellions begin, the Citadel discover the Turians who have just ended their civil war. They recruit them to fight the Krogan. Using the genophage, a Salarian weapon that infects the Krogans on a cellular level, the Turians make it so that Krogans can no longer reproduce, dooming their race for good and ending the Krogan Rebellions. As reward, the Citadel grants the Turians their own embassy.

1000 years later, the Geth Wars break out. The Quarians created machines (Geth) to help with labor, but the machines suddenly became self-aware. When the Quarians realized this and started dismantling the robots, the Geth fought back and drove the Quarians off their home world. As a result, the Quarian race became nomads and wander the galaxy as "the Migrant Fleet." As punishment for releasing the Geth on the galaxy, the Citadel Council closes the Quarian embassy.

Important Facts:

Citadel Council Formed The Rachni Wars The Founding of the Spectures The Genophage The Geth Uprising Mass Effect Era
 * 500 BCE: The Asari and Salarians form a galactic hub for the entire galaxy on the newly discovered Citadel. During this time a Turian Civil War is under way.
 * 1CE: In the first year marking a new era for the entire universe, war breaks out. The Rachni are discovered and they are hostile. The new Citadel Council find the Krogan and use them to defeat the Rachni.
 * 700 CE: To battle the Krogan Rebellions, the Council forms the Spectres and launches an attack.
 * 800 CE: The Turians use a biological weapon on the Krogans, effectively dooming their entire race by destroying their ability to reproduce.
 * 1895 CE: The Quarian's machines, named the Geth, used for labor become self-aware and revolt. The Quarians are driven off their home world and become nomads

Almost 50 years before the events of Mass Effect, war breaks out again. During the conflicts faced by the Citadel Council, humanity has been pushing further and further away from Earth, with colonies on the moon and Mars. Technology, thought to be Prothean, is discovered beneath the rocky terrain of Mars, allowing Humans to develop their own Mass Effect fields and starships. The Humans reach Pluto and discover that one of its moons is actually a Mass Relays frozen in ice. The Humans begin exploring space in full force, but when they attempt to reactivate an inactive Mass Relay, the Turains attack. Activating dormant Mass Relays are forbidden due to the Rachni incident and the Turians aim to prevent it.

Before the fighting escalates to all-out war, the Citadel Council intervenes and demands peace. Eight years later, humanity has founded countless colonies and is officially recognized by the Council, granting them an embassy on the Citadel. 18 years later, an event known as the Eden Prime War occurs. The Geth, the Quarains, self-aware machines, attack Eden Prime, a Human colony Commander Shepard is assigned to an experimental stealth prototype starship, the SSV Normandy, and sent to investigate.

Upon arrival on Eden Prime, Shepard discovers that Saren Arterius, the Council's youngest Specture to ever be appointed, was working with the machines. After Shepard proves Saren's betrayal, he is inducted into the Spectres and sent to capture Saren. Ultimately, it is revealed that Saren is a puppet of the Reaper, Sovereign. The indoctrinated Saren lure Shepard through the Mass Relay, thought to be lost, while Sovereign and the Geth attack the Citadel. Shepard stops Saren just in time to return to the Citadel and help take down Sovereign, preventing the Reapers' return.

Important Facts:

Humans Become Spacefaring Race Pluto's Mass Relay Discovered The First Contact War Commander Shepard SSV Normandy The Reapers Return Not even a month after Commander Shepard epic rescuing of the Citadel of the SSV Normandy come under attack. The prototype starship is decimated and Commander Shepard is propelled into space, declared KIA. Two years later, Commander Shepard is revived. His body was obtained by Cerberus, a radical, pro-Human organisation dedicated to the notion that the Human race deserves more than any other race in the galaxy. The illusive man, the mysterious leader of Cerberus, orders Shepard to head to the terminus System. Entire Human colonies have been disappearing, and the Illusive Man plans on finding out why and how.
 * 2148 CE: Humans discover a Prothean bounty of technology and use it to develop starships and Mass Effect technology of their own.
 * 2149 CE: Humans discover that one of Pluto's moons is actually a Mass Relay.
 * 2157: Turians attack the Humans when they try to activate an inactive Mass Relay, unaware of the dangers. The war is quickly ended when the Council intervenes.
 * 2172 CE: Commander Shepard joins the ranks of the Alliance Military.
 * 2183 CE: An experimental prototype stealth starship, the SSV Normandy, is developed. Commander Shepard is assigned to the craft.
 * 2183 CE: Saren is indoctrinated by Sovereign, causing the Eden Prime War, the first of many planned events in Sovereign's plans to return. Shepard becomes the first Human Spectre and is tasked with stopping Saren. He does so and helps the Citadel fend off the Reaper attack.

Upon investigation, Shepard discovers the Collectors, a mysterious race thought to be a myth, are behind the recent abductions. The Collectors come from beyond the Omega 4 Relay, a Mass Relay that no starships have ever returned from. To pass through the relay safely, Shepard requires a Reaper IFF device, a Reaper technology that tells the Collectors not to attack.

After assembling a team of the most elite team of soldiers and earning their trust and respect, Shepard heads to the derelict Reaper orbiting Mnemosyne. Here, he can detach the IFF and use it on the Normandy. Unfortunately, the derelict Reaper is infested with enemies. Shepard and his team battle through the ship, obtain the IFF and disable the Reaper's Mass Effect core, causing it to plummet into Mnemosyne as they narrowly escape.

Using the IFF, the new Normandy SR-2 passes through the Omega 4 Relay, but not before Mordin reveals that the Collectors are actually deformed, indoctrinated Protheans. The Protheans never disappeared, the Reapers enslaved them!

On the other side of the Mass Relay, the Normandy SR-2 heads for the Collector base on a suicide mission. There, Shepard and his team discover the Reaper's have tasked the Protheans with creating a Human Reaper. Using Human DNA, the Collectors were creating a new Reaper with Human DNA. Shepard and his team destroy the incomplete abomination and destroys the Reaper base.

Shepard, no longer content with being a puppet of the Illusive Man, decides to renounce his partnership with Cerberus.

An army of Reapers is seen awaking in Dark Space and moving forward for an impending battle, threatening to change Mass Effect history forever.

Important Facts:

Shepard KIA Shepard Revived Derelict Reaper Destroyed Suicide Mission Prothean Truth Awakening The Reaper Army
 * 2183 CE: Commander Shepard's Normandy SR-1 is attacked and destroyed. Shepard is declared dead.
 * 2185 CE: The pro-Human organization brings Shepard back from the dead and recruits him to investigate the disappearances of Human colonies.
 * 2185 CE: Shepard and his team investigate the seemingly dead Reaper, but realize it is just disabled. Shepard steals the IFF device to pass through a Mass Relay to find the Collector base and destroys the Reaper in the process.
 * 2185 CE: The Normandy SR-2 jumps through the Omega 4 Relay, a Mass Relay that no ships return from, on a suicide mission to destroy the Collector base.
 * 2185 CE: It is discovered that the Collectors are actually the Protheans, twisted and manipulated by the Reapers.
 * Shepard and his team destroy a Human Reaper which was created using the DNA of the missing colonists and the Collector base. This catches the attention of an army of Reapers lying dormant in Dark Space. They begin to move forward.180px-Humanreaper_528_poster.jpg