#relaying what happened

[shadesofmauve]

Mass Effect galaxy map

(For the Rhi Shepard universe)

I've been writing, if by 'writing' one means 'making a new galaxy map to use as a reference, because I'm too picky.'

I copied some symbology from Droot1986's excellent galaxy map. I also used Engorn's map as a reference, but ultimately the clusters and connections are based on the wiki. All systems within a cluster are listed, with inhabited planets in parentheses.

(...yeah, I should probably make a legend, but I only made it for my reference, so).

Features/changes

The relay in the Sol system only connects to Arcturus. This is how it's supposed to work in canon lore; Arcturus is important because it's a gateway system, while Sol is a dead end.

(Also, Sol is now in basically the right place compared to the underlying artist's impression of the milky way. Thank you NASA.)

Batarian's now have some space of their own, because lumping all batarian space into the human Systems Alliance was just BEGGING for a war. Like, WTF. Their government is flat out evil but that doesn't mean we just get to say their planets are ours now.

Combined inner and outer council space because idgaf.

There's a new, boringly named relay between Kite's Nest, Petra, and Exodus, because I needed one in chapter 14.

If a cluster had written lore about where it was in the galaxy, I tried to reflect that — so Styx Theta, Hawking Eta, and the Pangea Expanse are all close to the galactic core, Sentry Omega is on a political border, etc. Otherwise, I adjusted location to make the relay routes clearer. (Also I wanted the giant hub that is Omega to be almost opposite the Serpent Nebula and the Citadel)..

I imagine that there are actually a LOT more mapped clusters in Council Space than we see; they were just never relevant to the game. If not, the vaunted 'all relays lead to the Citadel' reaper web is just flat out wrong. Omega has more connections, and quite a few other clusters have as many. If there are more inhabited clusters in Citadel Space it also makes the veritable explosion of humanity look a little less ridiculous. (Seriously, humans have been on the galactic scene for thirty years. LOOK at how far we've gone. Council races are right to be freakin' terrified, the Sol system was like one of those plants with exploding seed pods where you bump it and POOF now they're EVERYWHERE). So let's assume the rest of the galaxy is as cluttered as Systems Alliance space, it's just not been relevant to our anthropocentric bag of dicks worldview.

Anyway. What the fuck is even up with the Attican Traverse?

[waywardstation]

I'm too much of a nervous bean to reach out not anonymously. But I wanted to say that your stories are my favorite iterations of Ingo and Akari and are what sucked me fully into submas. So thankyou and I look forward to seeing everything you come out with 😊

AHH thank you kind anon!!! ;w; <3 that means so much to me!! I’m also looking forward to getting more out!! I have so much I want to get out. I realize most of my writings that have most solidified how I currently write their dynamics are still not out yet. I have so much to get out and the most important parts of them I realize still are not public, so people can’t see the characters how I currently headcanon them.

I haven’t even posted anything yet that sets up the AU I’ve developed around them. It’s called Savepoint AU and it’s been in my head since 2023, regarding the tags I left in this post.

It’s very important to the narrative leading up to everything in I Won’t leave You Behind, but I feel I cannot post about it until I get Rain Check and its accompanying sequel Entropy Syndrome out. One group of people knows a little about it and has seen art related to it but that’s it haha.

ANYWAYS these are where Ingo and Akari’s dynamics really shine and I am hoping I can pull it together enough soon to be satisfied with the smaller details and get it out. I don’t want to rush it or I know it’ll bug me forever, as I feel that way about some stuff in HFBE haha. (DW I will fix these eventually)

Once again thank you anon!!! I’m so happy you like my work specifically, and I’m looking forward to getting more out!

[notachair]

Since atla is again having an extra surge of popularity, I'm shooting my shot:

[ID: (Rest of image description in alt). At the bottom of the image sits the text: "Zuko: Okay. Well, I can't remember how it starts, but the punchline is "leaf me alone, I'm bushed."" ID end].

Did we ever find out what the setup for this joke was? I feel kinda haunted by it. If not- anyone wanna make their best or worst guesses?

edit: I now know what "I'm bushed" mean, but go ahead anyway 👍

haunted thoughts in tags ↓

[koifsssh]

quick mob sketches before im off! (those lines are supposed to be red... but i'm trying to get this out before we leave!)

i cant believe i never returned to this! i had so many thoughts about it... well i'll display some here before i leave!

i've mentioned it once, but Rainy had already been in a "family" before having met Wally, though through a mistaken number they ended up having a conversation over the phone!

Somehow they became telephone friends, and because of that Wally learned of Rainy's situation. He knocked out two birds with one stone with this information!

Rainy joined in a similar manner Barnaby did! So he doesn't hold any scars from Wally, but he does hold scars from his past "family", so he hides them with bandages, as those scars tend to open sometimes.

Since Rainy had provided Wally all the information to take down the gang he belonged in, he took the spot of being the Boss's Eyes and Ears.

(No one really knows that though, as he's usually seen with Frank! He overseas every deal, just to make sure things run smoothly of course!)

Rainy holds everyone in a high regard, he adores all of them unconditionally! To him, they mean the world to him, as they truly feel like family to him.

He does know how to fight, though admittedly he's not very strong, to balance this out though he is very quick! (his choice of weapon is a pocket knife!)

i have more, but i'll write them later bwah. (the other post about mob!rainy is here!)

i will be back for more methinks... we'll see how it goes... bwah!

[paperconsumption]

the nice thing about watching earlier inoue shows is finding out exactly what donbrothers is parodying

[dear-ao3]

ah that feeling when you’re one seminar and 200 observation hours away from getting your [redacted] certification and you spend the summer at your parents house because there’s supposed to be a seminar in the end of may oh wait no now it’s july oh actually nvm it’s august and wait actually jk now it’s september but hold on! that doesn’t work cause you need to be done by september so you panic text your mom and your mentor and miraculously find one in cali that you can go to in two weeks but then wait there’s one in orlando in four weeks but no one knows the dates or if there’s availability and or when they will know and you’re kind of stressed cause you still need 200 observation hours but somehow also just ready to give up and let it happen and oh btw the whole organizations webpage is down for maintenance and you really just want to know where you’re booking your flight to and how many granola bars you need to pack

[tandytoaster]

Trying to like . bit by bit inch my mother into the direction of Not being so adamant about the moon landing being fake

[clonerightsagenda]

I am not typically interested in making up new characters for existing media properties, but I am very attached to Persephone, the mother program for the Hermes relay station that the group chat made up.

She got collared while the rest of the crew got bolted, and when the survivors swing by the Hermes to make sure there's not anything or anyone salvageable left behind, they're greeted by an oddly vacant, chipper AI program who's happy to help - until she sees Miranda and loses her goddamn mind.

[lord-shitbox]

dealing with my feelings feels like putting my hands in a sink swirling with sludge and garbage and it's nasty & it sucks but holy shit i just unclogged a drain and it's never felt so beautiful in here. clean sink. clean emotional sink. oh my god this is awesome

[punkrockisafulltimejob]

I'm working on a project on my computer and vaping, this is the closest I've been to my normal pain level in days. I know it won't last, especially not when I'm trying to sleep later.

Trying to ignore the guilt of disappearing from work for three days, when the last time I did that it was my mental breakdown two years ago.

[funsizedshark]

being a Fun Fact person is very nice because sometimes you're telling someone a fun fact and a complete stranger will start listening in because they are also curious about the Fun Fact. and now you get to share your Fun Fact with multiple people

[chancheols]

We need to bring Part Switches back to kpop.

[selkies-song]

Solved a REALLY interesting car case today (albeit with a lot of help) and I'm on cloud 9. This is why I'm doing what I'm doing.

[letters-to-rosie]

y'all I'm walking on campus I meet someone in my program I've never met before and he already knows about me because I just can't stay out of things lol

[soulsxng]

Sometimes, a person allows me to geek out about dog training/behavior/nutrition stuff a little bit (because they asked me for advice/help), and my brain just latches onto it for the rest of the day. And then I’m just going on long winded dog related info dumps completely out of nowhere to literally anybody in the room.

[porciaenjoyer]

if man's petty english class tears itself apart it is NOT my business