Unbent Unbroken Unconquered

Heroes win favor. Bastards win wars. Mass Effect AU set in the Renegade Reinterpretations Universe.

M/Shep

First and foremost, Mass Effect and its Characters are property of Bioware and this piece is purely for entertainment purposes only. The AU Renegade Reinterpretations is the brain child of College Fool. Hopefully I can do justice to both with this undertaking. This story will follow the format and that the latter has lain out in the pseudo historical narrative he devised, but for reasons of F%*& YEAH HUMANITY (!) and in the name of all things awesome, I will be taking certain liberties with details: my own interpretation if you will. Feedback and constructive criticism will be appreciated.

For those who wish to understand the back story of this alternate universe in detail, I would recommend reading Renegade Reinterpretations up to CH. 44 for complete context. However, those who feel that they don't have the time for it fear not; I will gradually drop hints of what life in this AU is like through the progression of the tale (to give an idea of the attitude that humans have in the present). Those who want to read the entire Renegade Reinterpretation story by College Fool then by all means go ahead. I can't really stop you can I?

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is an AU where Paragons are non-existent, not out of choice mind you, but out of necessity due to the length and severity of the First Contact War and its repercussions in this universe. The most notable of which is replacing the Paragon/Renegade dynamic with the Xenonationalist and Assimilationist perspectives. Xenonationalist's are renegades who play within the rules versus their Assimilationist counterparts who do not. In a nutshell, the former is against coercion, willing to compromise and work with aliens to better guarantee the survival of the species…despite being a self centered prick that's outright disgusted at the prospect of mingling with non-humans (cough*racist* cough). The Assimilationist desires to integrate with aliens in society and build a much better tomorrow working shoulder to shoulder with them…so long as its humanity who's in charge and to hell with the objections anyone makes otherwise.

Bioware gave the choice of "blue and red". In this universe your choices are Auburn and Burgundy. Honorable Fascist or Idealistic Imperialist. You can read about them in detail with their Renegade Reinterpretations entry's by College Fool but they do contain minor SPOILERS if you have never played the mass effect franchise and contain bigger SPOILERS if you desire to read this fic.