Chapter 0: Prologue

Humanity is a strange species. They aim for unity, but they never finish it. They desire peace, yet they never actually believe any one preaching it. They seek progress, but they may have already destroyed more than what they gained. And for all of that strangeness, they stand strong and firm, they have become a full analogue against the Citadel Council.

They are our best partners, and our worst enemy.

Unnamed Asari Commando

Uniting humanity into a single Nation is a job easier said than done. Even when said task is promoted or initiated right after a disaster, it is only a matter of time before "shit hits the fan". The League of Nations was formed in 1920 after The Great War, or World War I. At that time, everyone thought that peace was at hand. There was peace of course, until a certain Austrian named Adolf Hitler became German Fuhrer. Then, after 70 million casualties and seven years of bloody war, the United Nations was formed.

It was a pity that they could not defuse the Cold War soon enough. At least they were able to solve some racial issues of the late 20th century… and utterly fail with the Invasion of Iraq in 2003. The power of the United Nations becomes more questionable by mid-21st century with the total chaos. Ultra-nationalism, racism, sovereign disputes, terrorism… It did not take long for the Long Great War to erupt.

The Second World War saw the deployment of nuclear weapon as the end. The Third World War saw it as a common sight. How Earth managed to stay in one piece and (relatively) friendly to life is a mystery to many.

Finally, after ten long brutal and bloody years, when the last terrorist outpost was bombed, when the last bastion of Neo-Nazism was destroyed, Peace returned to Earth once more. This time, Earth unification was one of the main priorities, apart from economic recovery and civilizing military scientific developments. Compared to a century before that, mankind were more united than ever.

The United Nations was re-named into Terran Federation and was granted more power, becoming the sole representative and administrative power of human. The "traditional" science was challenged, leading to the developments of Faster-than-light travel. Anti-matter energy was developed so much that it could be made cheaper than ever before. New Nano-materials allow better conservation of raw materials which were already dried due to the War. Artificial Intelligence became a reality and quickly gained their places in modern society.

In less than fifty years, human society changed completely. We stopped fighting among ourselves and aimed for the stars. To be more precise, we stopped fighting, but we still developed new ways of killing, some of which had became the iconic for each faction of the Federation. It was tense sometimes, but for a species who believe in peace can be guaranteed by M.A.D., or Mutually Assured Destruction, it was quite a good time to live.

Nevertheless, human expansion in space was quite rapid. In 2100, the moon was re-conquered and the first space-borne base was built. In 2109, human claimed Mars as a new colony with the new FTL-drive made in 2097. In 2130, the human presence reached the Asteroid Belt. In 2132, the 'Prothean' ruin was discovered on Mars, boosting science and technology to a whole new level. In 2170, human had already owned over 25 "garden" worlds, ten "forge" worlds and three "fortress" worlds.

The future was bright then. Human, despite Evidence, still thought that they were the only sentient life in the galaxy. They were right, at least until Shanxi, until the Event of Relay Three-Fourteen . In the span of two weeks, hell broke loose. The irony was not lost on any human: precisely 100 years after peaceful expansion, humanity had to face a hostile Extra-Terrestrial enemy.

Extract from A look at the last 100 years, a History project work from a high school student on Terra Nova.

Humanity is probably the strangest Race the Citadel Council has met so far. Instead of having a single united government, they divide themselves into different factions (verified at eight governing bodies) and elect a common representative board to keep them in check. In a simple manner of speaking, each individual government can direct their state as they will, as long as it does not conflict with the Terran Federation Charter.

The confirmed administrative institution of humanity are as bellow:

Terran Federation: The official representative of all humans. Their power, both economic and military, is the combined might and resources of all known human forces. Being a well-rounded government, they are capable of dealing with a wide range of problems, from economic crash to pirate attacks. However, they are infamous among human due to its 'bureaucracy'.

United States of North America: Considered as the most powerful member-state of the Terran Federation, both in terms of economy and military. Having a democratic system, USNA can be considered as the fairest nation-state among the eight members. Most human scientific advances are confirm to origin from this member-state. However, they also have the highest rate of imprisonment and largest gap between rich and poor (about 10 times larger than the human's average)

Federation of Eastern European Republics: Considered at second rank in term of power, they are respected due to a high standard of military engineering and an established martial tradition. In addition, the Federation also has the most impressive industrial prowess among the human factions. The stereotype of this member-state can be summed up as bad-mannered, tough and very reliable, for man and equipment both. However, corruption and alcoholism have hindered the progress of the federation.

People's Republic of United China: Ranked equally at second place with the REEF (though slightly weaker), PRUC gained its position due to raw numbers in manpower and resources. With this edge, they are able to field a large number of assets at any given time. The most notable proof for this is that they produce the highest tonnage of space-ships annually, both civilian and military models. Their main drawback is the lack of initiative among the low-level officials.

Pan-Asian Coalition: Ranked fourth in term of power, due to the historical reason (being giant-killer). While lacking industrial power or the manpower of the 'Big Three', they made up with their ingenious as well as a heart of steel. Being influenced equally by the major three powers, their military doctrine focus on crippling enemy critical assets in an alpha strike and it can easily turn into asymmetrical and/or unconventional warfare, providing the war actually erupts. At the moment, they are considered as the best human diplomats.

European Union: Ranked fifth (slightly weaker than PAC), mainly due to its highly-capitalist policies and a good sense of trading. Once a major power bloc, the power of EU was reduced significantly due to the Great War. However, they were able to recover, thanks to high-tech equipment. Their military favours high-speed engagements and combat, preferring out-manoeuvring their enemies. At the moment, they produce the highest quality of space-ships for human.

Democratic Republic of India: Ranked at sixth position, DRI stays true to their stereotype (much to their annoyance) as brilliant information technology engineers. Most, if not all, breakthroughs in terms of computer science come from this nation-state. It is believed that the first one thousand human AIs were originally from the DRI, and so were the next three thousands more until the first non-DRI AI was made "properly" in USNA. However, the poverty rate of DRI is the second-highest among the human nations, hindering their development greatly.

South America Alliance: Ranked at seventh position, SAA marked their place by being a major producer of spices, silk and other human luxuries. While they can profit from said products, they also have to face the danger of highly-addictive drugs and an alarming rate of corruption (which, in turns, make corruption in FEER looks like 'clean nation'). At the moment, a major operate of 'house cleaning' is being launched to root out all undesirable elements.

Africa – Middle East Alliance: Ranked at eighth position, AMEA was once remembered as an area rich in fossil fuels and other precious raw materials. However, terrorists and extremists gained a heavy presence here and greatly hamper the mining progress. Combined with the appearance of new and clean energy sources as well as better man-made material, they lost their main strength. Lucky for them, they were able to completely terraform their homeland, at least half of which was desert, and become the main bread-basket for Earth. Nowadays, their main forte is this technology. They are ranked the weakest due to an (almost) absence of military power.

The first time of me trying to write a Mass Effect fanfic. Mostly inspired by other works on this website as well as I want to read some HFY (Humanity F*** Yeah) stories. Last but not least, I just want to practice English smirk.

For clarification, this is my setting for the book:

Setting:

Alternative Universe (AU) - That explains World War 3, the absence of System Alliances, the fact that we human use another form of Faster than light (FTL) travel, the Prothean Archive on Mars also show threats of a larger galaxy (top secret) or the Charon Relay was busted (courtesy of Prothean)

First Contact War between Human and Turian (for Book 1, that is, if I have time to write more)

Situation: A peaceful First Contact between human and Quarian near Shanxi and Relay Three-Fourteen (314). And then, a patrol of Turian shows up and trashes the scene, killing multiple ships and capture one more (a Quarian frigate, carrying on-site volunteers)

Human developments:

Artificial Intelligence (for both military and civilian use)

Shock-Warp Drive (another form of FTL travel, independent of Element Zero - though improvements can be made if EZ is used)

Terra forming technology

Anti-matter reactors

Nano-material

Power suit (limited)

Mech suit (mostly for civilian use)

Orbital elevators (only at Earth and major colonies)

This story is inspired by:

Mass Effect: Iron Hear of Man - Fanfic - Author: Apollonir

Mass Effect: The Terran Gambit - Fanfic - Author: Informedterran

Dawn of Titans - Fanfic - Author: F13D

Against the Odds - Fanfic - Author: Agentweapon Proelium-Tempus

The Siege of Shanxi - Fanfic - Author: Made Nightwing

Mass Effect: The First War - Fanfic - Author: ProfFartBurger

Halo franchise - Property of 343 Industries, a subsidiary of Microsoft Studios

AldNoah Zero (anime) - Property of A-1 Pictures

Deus Ex franchise - Developed by Ion Storm and Edios Montreal

Independence Day - Directed by Roland Emmerich

Expected update speed: 1~2 weeks/chapter, each chapter is 4~5 thousands words

***Edit: The cover image was originated from Pinterest, Ed Natividad Concept Art, designed by Erik Lanuza

***Edit: The story is also being posted on the AlternateHistory forum (Alien Space Bat sub-forum). This chapter has already been beta-read by two members there: Devilking1994 and Walkin' Man