#Mass Effect Headcanon

[strawberrykidneystone]

the normandy cat

-yk how pirate ships had cats on them to eat mice and stuff? yeah the normandy definitely had a cat on it in ME3

-she’s a grey-striped tabby with one eye missing, so shepard named her winky

-she kinda just wandered on one day and never left

-she gets in the tunnels and airways all the time and edi tracks her movement

-she's usually in the shuttle bay and wacks at the robot dog (sorry kei-9)

-vega and cortez keep her food and water filled at all times (they get her the good wet food and put ice cubes in her water)

-vega insisted he was more of a dog person, but was immediately found with winky crawling all over his shoulders and using him as a living jungle gym with vega laughing like a little schoolboy

-cortez had to start doing "winky checks" because she has snuck onto the kodiak during take-off on more than one occasion

-becomes the ship-wide ESA

-garrus trims her claws whenever he trims his own talons

-tali can frequently be found holding her and baby talking to her, telling her how cute and fluffy she is, 10000x worse when she's drunk

-when grissom academy was saved, the teens had a FIELD DAY playing with her and using their biotics to float her in the air (don't worry she enjoyed it, they also made some of her bird toys fly for her to "hunt")

-shepard usually holed up in her room to read reports, but now she can frequently be found on the couch in the common area with winky purring away on her lap

-liara softly scolds the cat when she tries to attack glyph but it's never serious, she enjoys the cat jumping around as a distraction every so often

-kaidan is such a cat dad, he hand sews her a little N7 vest and makes her an eyepatch too

-ashley is very neutral about the cat, she never calls her by her name but never pushes the cat away when she curls up next to her

-traynor is less than pleased about having a cat on board and has to invest in antihistamines like no bodies business, but she sees how happy she makes the crew and that's enough for her

-the cat almost made them crash one time when she jumped up on the normandy consul so joker is not a huge fan "keep her out of the cockpit shepard!"

-edi likes the cat, at least she thinks she does. she definitely seems to like her.

-javik doesn't get the appeal, but does enjoy the feeling of her fur so he tolerates her near him

[oediex]

We all like to joke that Shepard in ME1 can't drive shit, but what are the arguments that it's actually Shepard who is driving the Mako.

Like, on the one hand I can see it, if she's stubborn and wants to be in charge etc etc. Definitely people who are conceptualising her like that. But that's not necessarily the case.

Because on the other hand, there's good reason to think, since she's the one who's in charge, the boss, the commander, she's not the one driving but rather the one merely directing.

So while there's still good reason in that scenario for it to be her choice and decision to go straight up the mountain instead of around it, she's not the one who's flipping the car every minute, hitting the boost so the car flies horizontally away from the steepness of the mountain and inevitably tumbling back down, or ending up upside down because there was a rock in the way just when you're boosting.

So here's my proposal of who is driving the Mako terribly:

Wrex is probably the worst offender. I mean, he just loves it, right? Probably screaming excitedly as you're soaring through the air towards a sharp rock.

With Garrus, I'm 50/50. He's either a really good driver or he's also just enjoying the ride. So he might be a good driver and just say fuck it.

Tali being a terrible driver could be argued by her growing up on the flotilla and having little experience driving anything

I think Ashley is also just having fun. Arguably she knows how to drive, surely it's part of military training, but I might be wrong on that. Might be you're not really trained on it until you reach officer's training.

Kaidan is clearly not the one driving ever, because he's a good driver and obviously he would go the long way around.

I would say the same for Liara.

[drelldreams]

Thinking about humans learning alien languages and vice versa. On one hand, you’d have humans butchering alien languages. Can’t produce the chirping and bellowing sounds of alien languages. Humans trying to speak the turian or krogan language would come out as an incomprehensible mess. Turians speaking human languages wouldn’t be able to pronounce b, m and p due to not having any lips.

On ther hand, you probably have languages with eerily similar phonology by sheer coincidence, so you wpuld have asari who can speak Finnish with a perfect Finnish accent, which leads Finnish speakers to believe the asari’s speech is being translated, but nope! The blue lady is speaking your language!

Maybe some turians would sound just like native German speakers when speaking German, except they leave out every p, m and p and you wonder what the hell your translator is doing.. turns out the turian guy is speaking German.

[amadholes-lostre]

Your Mass Effect post (The Citadel one) is really cool, though I am a little sad that there aren’t any mentions about the Salarians. Do you have HCs for the alien amphibian folk?

Sorry, I not as invested as Salarians as I am to Asari. I have some ideas for them, but like not major ones.

-they have thr largest population in the galaxy: 25 trillions at least.

-They do practice some form of eugenics and selective breeding with their race. There likely will be testes similar to SAT, and if individuals, especially males, do not reach a certain score, they're automatically sterilized. The Citadel Council society should have some form of gene engineering to help people with disability either physically or neurologically, but Salarian society still practices it. I certain most sterilized Salarians, especially that of males, have children with Asari simply because of that and usually asperse and mocked by most of Salarians.

-they're definitely a matriarchal society. Honestly, humans, especially men, face a huge whiplash when entering CC society. Salarian politicians, the majority of whom are female, rarely take human politicians, many of whom likely are men, seriously and were detrimental to Human-Salarians. (In the eyes of many, Valern becoming CC councilor was viewed as shocking as no male ever held that position.)

-(not about Salarian but related to them. Since Asaris are a monosex race and therefore have no patriarchy, Salarians are a matriarchal society, and Turians are egalitarian, humanity faces cultural shock once entering Citadel society as i said before. And this is dependable on where they're: men could face belittle or condescending by either Asaris or Salarians in position they are qualified in, face sexual harassment or even rape by Asari, male or female Turians, or other races that they never face, and other things. The reason why Krogans and Batarian are hatred, other than trying conquering them [Krogans drop fucking moons on planets] and slavery is due to their patriarchal and misogynistic society).

-(On another note, I have an idea in my own Mass Effect triology rewrite where Femshep went to Chora's Den to talk to that sexist cop [don't care about him to look up his name] and before entering, an Asari and group of armed escorts confronted Den guards. The idea that Chora's Den is hated in Citadel station for not only mistreating their sex workers but refusing to sign the Pleasurer Guild regulations. The Asari is a representative of the Pleasurer Guild [something like a professional association and labor union for sex works like pornography, erotica, erotic photographical model, strippers, freelancer, and things like that] and the Guild is fucking piss at Fist for that. Idea is that Femshep helps them. I also had an idea that a Den's guard [a men] was throwing a fit and being misogynistic, and one of the escorts, a female Turians [who'salso like a meter taller than him], lay her backhand on his shoulder to show if he has any power, and the guy was scared shitless. A total Powerful Cunt Energy there.)

-(also, pyjak is now an anti-human slur. It was previously an anti-quarian slur, but now that humans are spreading across the galaxy in a fast, quickly establishing themselves thoroughly, and occasionally being an obnoxious, many nonhumans start calling them that.)

- Salarian family structure works through clans: an average clans will have a thousand members and a hierarchy through tiers. The top tier is the head matriarch, always a female, and she has exclusive right of who she could mate with and how long. (Salarians don't actually have sex reproduce. They just squat over an incubator pond and ejected their gamete over it). Next is like maybe a dozen females who have top priority of mating, allow to reproduce at least half a year. Next is females who aren't allow to reproduce but still have better rights and could the potential to breed in the future, and male who I calling bachelor. (Bachelors are male Salarians who are to mate with other clans females. It kinda works like bee drones, only that they negotiated breeding rights). The last tier and least respected tier are males and females who are not only sterilized but aren't allowed to apply in their version of higher education. They're forced to work in blue-collar jobs. I pretty sure like half or at least 1/3 of Salarians are in this tier.

-the sex ratio is like 1 female to 2 males due to this hierarchy arrangement. Females in 2nd and 3rd tiers use neural implant to control their ovulation cycle. So there's that.

- speaking of sex, their gender is probably either bonkers or nonexistent. There's likely clothing segregation based on sex, but that is more likely due to hierarchical status, like how medieval society has a restriction of color based on social caste. Females and males both wear robes and similar clothing, and it's likely there's no gender pronouns like Finnish pronouns.

-though their natural lifespan is 40 years, they definitely increase it into their hundreds. They have the ability to genetically alter Krogans and spread it globally simultaneously, they will definitely increase their lifespan (likely still shorter than humans 200+ years one though).

Can't think of anything else, toodles 👋.

[assassins-wasteland]

Mass Effect and Human Foods

So as far as we know four human foods have been mentioned in all four Mass Effect games; donuts, ramen, pizza, and ice cream. And I’ve been thinking about why these four things specifically.

As long as you have some sort of flour and sugar and starch you can make donuts. Flour, yeast, cheese, marina sauce, and some sort of optional meat or veggies you can make a pizza. All you really need to make ramen is broth and noodles at a minimum. Ice cream just needs cream, ice, and flavorings. Most of these ingredients can be dehydrated to be shipped to the Citadel or another species has similar ingredients that can be used as substitutes.

So what does this mean? It means out of all the foods we could have brought to the galactic scene to introduce human cuisine we not only chose some of the most accessible and easy to make foods but ones that can just as easily be altered for any species to enjoy. Humans brought food that can be shared and I think that’s beautiful.

[kalin7art]

Two posts in 1 day? What is it, my birthday? Yes it actually was that’s why I had time to draw. I am 99% sure that my treasured headcanon of Cortez becoming Shepard’s caretaker and close friend for a few months (being the only crew member left on Earth), comes from a fanfiction I’ve read in these years. PLEASE, if you know it send me the link, because I’d very much like to re-read it. 

Also, might draw more about this.

[sugarandstories]

A Mass Effect map without space (free resource)

I made this for Mass Effect creatives who would like a non-space oriented map for urban/medieval/period and non-scifi related AUs.

The Milky Way has been made into one planet and the territories are continents, every inhabited system is a country, and every colonised planet is a city. Information not provided in game was sourced from the fanwiki (the location of the Hanar, Drell, Raloi and Yahg homeworlds etc.)

This is free to use for fanfics, RPs/TTRPs, headcanons and the like! The only rules are not to put it behind any kind of paywall and not to claim that you created it! :)

[luosaugury]

After the war, somewhere along the way Javik takes up photography as a side hobby because it's the closest thing to prothean's memory-sharing and storage technology

[brinteylovesaliens]

HC for FemShep that @sarahsmiles1991 and I came up with today...

Shep: gods first a turIan wants me to be a spectre, another wanted me to join with him as a slave to sovereign, then another turian wants me captured so he could live like a king, and then they want me to do things for them like save their planet, son and a head of a geth,what is it turians DON'T want from me?

Garrus: ... to die, we don't want you to die

Meshep: as sweet as that is, Sare-

Garrus: Siren was being brainwashed by a reaper, believe me many turians would kill to be in my position.

Victus: the Turian Hierarchy received a request to officially recognize Commander Shepard as a Turian citizen. I've also received requests for marriage requests from many families for the Commander.

Wrex: yeah? Well she's already officially a Krogan and has had breeding requests.

Tali: yeah, well she's already a Quarian Captain and can link suits with literally anyone she wants!

Geth: consensus was reached by 99.99999999999993% of all Geth that Shepard-Commander is Geth. She has entered our consensus space twice and survived. And is nice to us. We.. like her.

Balak: All Batarians want her dead

Bray: not me

Balak: except Bray

Bray: I'd marry her of she wanted

Balak: he's a bad Batarian

Aria: she can be my co-Queen.

Balak: Batarians want her dead

Batarians: nah, we're cool with her

Balak: but..

Batarians: she can hold her own word us. She's badass. And doesn't kill us just for being Batarian

Balak:

Bray: she kinda threatened me once. It was hot.

Balak: ... okay maybe I was turned on when she said she would hunt me down BUT I STILL WANT HER DEAD

Balak: she blew up our solar system!

Bray: yeah, for a good reason

Balak: PEOPLE DIED!

Bray: yeah, and billions lived because of it

Balak: ffs

Bray: I wish to make babies with her

Hanar: this one would also like to say that Shepard has been requested to mate as well for bringing back one of the enkindlers, along with the drell of course.

Elcor: Shyly excited, we too have accepted her as one of us after saving us

Volus: .....yeah I guess would make a good mate if she wanted us

Morlan: she is welcome in my shop at a 90% discount

Salarians: while one old bitch doesn't like the fact that she cured the genophage many has asked to send thier ancestor genes to her if she would be interested [we then discussed hoe Salarians swap genealogy stuff..]

Asari: ... ya no we want her we want many shep asari

We'll need to add more as we go..

[squigglysquidd]

Did Mass Effect Forget Human Ages Lore?

I often wonder if the writers forgot that they expanded the age of humans to a 150-year life expectancy.

Did they intend for humans to age as we do now and just have an extra 70-odd years extra as elders?

Or is a human's life cycle slowed and extended to fill in the gaps? That would make a lot more sense than the former, imo.

I like to think that they have a sort of pause in life around their 40-60s and they're stronger than us at that age. I also believe their bodies don't age as fast as us.

However, Hackett and Anderson really look like they're us at their age. I understand it's for the player to see them as aged and wise but dammit, that would mean humans in ME age so much so fast that it wouldn't be possible for them to even use those last years.

TL;DR: I'm ignoring how haggard Hackett and Anderson look for their -by ME standards- young ages and making adults have a kind of frozen-in-time moment in their lives.

[strawberrykidneystone]

brief moments of intimacy with mass effect companions

the commander shepard showing affection to their lover <3

a/n: i kinda like this format bc i need more practice writing for the other companions besides garrus😭 some of these are set in ME2 and some are set in ME3 oopsies

gn!shepard x mass effect companions

ao3 version

garrus:

-during missions, shepard is always at the front and center of her companions, guiding them through even the worst circumstances

-however, the way back is a different story

-with the rest of the crew in front of them and walking back to the normandy, shepard hangs back and walks next to garrus, giving him a small nod

-he nodded back and flickered his mandible, looking straight forward as he felt their hand lace with his, giving him a reassuring squeeze as if to say “it’s okay, we’re both okay”

-garrus squeezed back and leaned down to their height, pressing his plate lips against their forehead very briefly as they finally arrived back at the ship they both called home

liara:

-she was holed up in her room, combing through all of the information they had on the protheans for the umpteenth time as if she would magically see something new

-unsurprisingly, she didn’t

-what did surprise her, however, was a pair of arms wrapping around her waist and a nose burying into her neck

-thankfully, she could recognize her lover's embrace anywhere

-by the goddess, she was so wrapped up in her research that she didn’t even hear the doors open

-and what better time to take a break than with her favorite person in the galaxy?

tali:

-she was busy tweaking the core reactor in the engineering room to run at full capacity

-apparently, more time had passed than she thought because the next thing she knew, there was a tap on her shoulder

-she looked over the shoulder that was tapped, but no one was there

-a tap came on her other shoulder so she looked, and the same thing

-she finally completely turned around and found a smiling shepard holding up a picnic basket

-tali apologized for losing track of time but they stopped her, taking her hand and leading her to the cat walk where the core shined above them

-shepard laid out a blanket, setting up tali’s sanitized food and their own human food

-they sat directly across front each other, each sacrificing a hand to hold the other as they ate their respective foods

-a picnic in the stars, at least a very warm one

kaidan:

-kaidan woke up to shepard’s side of the bed being barely warm anymore, they were always up before him

-he yawned and stretched his arms up, sitting up and tossing his legs over the side of the bed to get the day started

-the door suddenly opened and there was shepard with two steaming cups of hot coffee in their hands

-kaidan couldn’t help but smile, they even indulged his “ridiculous” moose head mug (he brought it from home)

-shepard yawned and walked over to him, gently handing him his cup before pecking his lips

-as they turned to walk away, kaidan caught their hand and pulled them down into a deeper kiss, tasting stale coffee on their lips from an earlier cup

-shepard withdrew with a smile and shook their head playfully, ruffling his already messy bedhead hair

-what a nice way to start the day

ashley:

-it had been a long day in the war room and ashley was more frustrated than ever, feeling helpless in this war

-shepard caught up with her walking back to the elevator and snaked their hand around her waist, pulling her closer to them

-she couldn’t help but smile, leaning into their touch and leaning her head on their shoulder

-she may not be able to do much in negotiations, but she knew humankind was in good hands with her fearless leader

jack:

-after narrowly saving grissom academy, the kids were set up in the common area as they waited for another shuttle

-jack was still heated from the entire situation and was currently ripping shepard a new one

-at the end of her spiel, she slapped them and pointed at their chest “that’s for cooperating with cerberus in the first place”

-then, she grabbed them by their collar and pulled them into a rough kiss, their teeth clacking at the first pull in

-jack pulled back for air and looked at shepard with a blush on her cheeks “and that’s for saving my kids… it might be nice to see you again too.”

-shepard chuckled and pulled her close by her waist, so close that their noses were almost touching, “it’s nice to see you too jack.”

miranda:

-meeting miranda on the citadel after hearing about her sister was hard, especially when miranda insisted she needed to do it alone

-but if anyone would understand wanting to do something by yourself, it was shepard

-so they did what they could, pulling her into a tight hug that she returned with full enthusiasm, their rib cages crushing against each other

-a small sob escaped miranda and shepard cupped the back of her head, turning their head to the side and kissed the top of her hair, shielding her from the world so she could compose herself

-miranda took a deep breath, taking in their familiar scent and calming down in their arms

-everything would be alright as long as she had shepard by her side

thane:

-he was sitting in his usual seat in the hospital at the citadel, he was here more than her liked

-a small coughing fit started and his chest heaved, a dizzy feeling going straight to his head

-suddenly, he felt grounded when he felt a familiar hand rubbing circles on his back

-he didn’t even have to turn to know who it was, shepard sat down next to him and he comfortably leaned into their embrace, resting his head on their shoulder

-this place wasn’t so lonely with them, he would embrace death once again knowing that they would join him across the sea

jacob:

-jacob was doing his daily crunches in the weapons room (unsurprisingly)

-shepard initially came in to switch out her shotgun for another she found on the field, but this was even better

-jacob acknowledged then with a small wave, staying committed to his usual workout routine

-that was fine, shepard smirked and walked over to him, kneeling down in front of his legs

-he was a little confused at first, but they had perfectly timed it to when he started his full-sit ups, kissing him every time he made it all the way up

-he did way more sets than he was expecting to that day and could barely move his torso the next day

-worth it though

a/n: if a request is made for more characters i would be happy to add them in!!

[turianhousewife]

since asari don't have eyebrows nor ever really feel the need to draw them on it's my personal headcanon that liara decides to draw on those 1920s style eyebrows after a few weeks being on the normandy. I can see her frantically searching up human eyebrow styles and accidentally being off the mark by a 150 years

[drelldreams]

Mass Effect Lore: Common technologies in the 2180‘s (Part 2)

This post is both a collection of canon technologies in the Mass Effect universe, and personal headcanon which may be borrowing common concepts from sci fi.

Infrastructure:

Autonomous public transportation vessels of all sorts. As seen with the tram on Noveria. Trains, buses and cabs are also autonomous. Rude bus drivers, trains and buses being cancelled or too late are problems of the past.

Some of those buses and cabs drive on land; others are flying vessels that travel through the sky.

Trains travel at immense speed, with most trains being able to travel at least 1000km/h. Low pressure tunnels allow for this level of speed.

Suspension railways are a common means of public transportation and are widely featured all across the galaxy on various space station, colonies and in most Earth countries. This also includes maglevs (magnetic levitation trains).

Cities commonly not only feature terminals providing rentable e-bikes, e-scooters or even e-rollerblade, but also rent flying hoverboards.

Medicine & Health:

Needles have become obsolete. Technologies akin to Star Trek's hypospray have replaced them. (This contradicts with Mordin's line in ME3: „Fear of needles. Common phobia." I know.)

Genetic therapy has advanced so far as to being able to cure almost any genetic disease. (Book canon).

Cybernetics can fix deafness and blindness.
(Canon implied, I believe?)

Advancement in technology and medicine have slowed down human aging significantly. Women can have healthy children in their sixties. (Book canon). Anti aging therapies and cybernetics can allow humans to reach ages of up to 250 years.

Education:

Paper and pens being used in schools is a thing of the past. Students use tablets (which are made of ultra-light also foldable) with either keyboards or tablet pens for handwritten notes.
(Book canon implied - Gillian uses a computer to work on her assignments in Mass Effect:
Ascension).

Some teachers and students would prefer to have their textbooks in form of super light datapads (like e books) rather than have them all digitally stored on their computer.

Learning programs are highly advanced and VI‘s provide students with custom tailored, individualized exercises and study plans and games.

Food:

Liquid food drinks, nutrient pastes and bars that replace entire meals are available just about everywhere. With biotics burning huge amount of calories, the asari have perfected such products. Being cheaper than freshly cooked take out meals and coming in all sorts of flavors and textures, such nutrient pastes proved to be a saving grace for poorer individuals. Some poor people nearly only eat 3D printed nutrient paste, which does not have the same feeling as eating real meals, but nutrient paste in Mass Effect is of such high quality that it provides the body with all nutrients it needs while being free of unhealthy ingredients.

People-prepared foods (by humans/aliens) are still appreciated, but many foods available in grocery stores are 3D printed. Cafés tend to feature feature people-prepared foods. A café selling 3D printed cakes for instance would be looked down upon.

Synthetic flavors have been perfected. While technology has been advanced to the point where you could grow strawberries on Omega without issues (using environmental control systems in a hydroponic bay), the ultimate cheapest way to replicate the flavor is using synthetic ingredients. This way, you can find foods of any flavor, no matter what exotic fruit from Palaven or Khar'Shan it might be, anywhere.

Sugar free snacks and candy are as common as the sugar variants. Ice cream cates feature sugar free ice cream options. Sugar free chocolate or cookies are available at any grocery store.
Various synthetic ingredients are used to replace sugar.

Lab grown meat is incredibly common (canon) and meat from Earth animals found on space stations is grown from animal stem cells.

Home:

Significantly less time is spent on chores due to robots doing most of the work. With floor wiping and vacuum robots being affordable for middle class people in the 21st century, in the 22nd, the majority of cleaning is done by robots in a middle class household. Advanced kitchen aid machines are found in most households and make cooking less time consuming and complicated for most people.

Blinds, curtains, light, air filtration systems, thermal regulation systems (air conditioning or heating systems) and television are typically navigated via a voice command (for example, „Light on“ or „Television off).

Holographic home ambiences like in Cyberpunk 2077 are common. Windows can be made to look like they‘re displaying a galaxy full of stars via holographic projections. Some people use those home ambience holographs to create the appearance of a luxurious club lounge, or to project beautiful landscapes into a corner of their room.

Personal Care:

Like in Star Trek, sonic showers can be used to clean the body effectively. Ultrasonic vibrations remove dirt, bacteria, excess oil and dead skin cells without requiring soap or water. While more expensive than typical showers, the use of sonic showers saves water. This sort of technology is found within quarian environmental suits. Drell with Kepral's Syndrome generally use sonic showers rather than water showers.

In addition to having an inbuild shower function, quarian environmental suits are equipped with a dental hygiene program that cleans the teeth and mouth of the wearer effectively using ultrasonic vibrations.

Certain suit upgrades can even use nanobots to moisturize the body.

Toothbrushes are also generally sonic toothbrushes that use the same technology as showers do; ultrasonic vibrations.

Clothes are typically self-cleaning with nanoparticles that kill bacteria and prevent the build up of odor.

[pirunika]

i want throwing up to b a human only thing for the WHATS COMING OUT OF YOUR MOUTH??? shock to other aliens

[followingrose]

I’m starting my third Mass Effect playthrough and listening to Old Gods of Appalachia while doing all the UNC missions in ME1.

So now the headcanon is that Shep makes everyone listen to their weird horror podcasts while they’re crashing around in the Mako.

[milkywayes]

GARRUS VAKARIAN: DATABASE IMAGE ACCESS. > PT. 1 : 2160, 2166, 2170. > all files backdated according to user preferences: (terran_coordinated.calendar).