Mass Effect

Mass Effect is a action/role-playing game created by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and PC. Players take the role of Commander Shepard, an elite member of the human military operating in the year 2183. Shepard must gather together a crew of humans and aliens in order to stop an intergalactic threat known as the Reapers. The sequel, Mass Effect 2, takes place two years after the events of the first. Shepard is recruited by a secret organization to investigate the disappearance of human colonies.

At the beginning of the game players may change Shepard's gender, first name, personal history, and appearance. The game has a morality system, although it is less about good and evil; instead, it uses two gauges representing Paragon (law-abiding and idealistic) and Renegade (ruthless and pragmatic) levels. The two are not mutually exclusive and most players end up as a balance between Paragon and Renegade by the end of the game.

Both games offer the opportunity for Shepard to become involved in romances with crew members. The first game offered three potential partners: a male human, a female human, and a female (but technically genderless--long story) blue-skinned alien (who could be romanced by both a male and female Shepard). The second game offers three partners each for male and female Shepards, although there is no longer a main same-sex romantic partner.

More information about the various species and technologies present within both games can be found at the Mass Effect Wiki.

Mass Effect and the PPC
Due in large part to the many romantic options in the game, a great deal of Mass Effect fanfiction revolves around pairings. There seems to be a fair split between slash and het pairings. Mary Sues and Gary Stus are less common, but they do appear from time to time, and their prominence in Mass Effect fanfiction has steadily increased in a strange parallel to the rise of the self-insert genre. Replacement Stu/Sues of Commander Shepard are difficult to determine since he/she is a blank slate whose personality, past, and inherent abilities are all determined by the player at the beginning of the game and expanded on throughout the storyline. Both a Paragon and a Renegade Shepard can be canon: if a Mass Effect 1 save file is imported into Mass Effect 2, the decisions of the player have repercussions no matter the path taken.

However, this does not mean that Commander Shepard cannot be possessed by a Sue or Stu. Like a pre-made crash dummy, Sues and Stus find themselves easily at home in Shepard's identity due to its blank-slate nature. If in fanfic, Shepard performs actions that are not canonical options open in the canon story and are not well-thought out, and the story treats it as no big deal... there might be a problem. Something very simple can result in unintentional tragedy, deaths, or even mass destruction. While characters canonically grow to like and look up to Shepard in-story, suefluence still is a very real issue. The cast respects Shepard for his/her deeds and leadership, not because he/she is a super special... time traveler... rainbow-eyed... thing.

While it is perfectly possible to encounter goodfic that explores new paths that canon didn't take, because of the level of detail in the Mass Effect continuum, there really is no 'fudging' it. Unfortunately, Mary Sues and Gary Stus really, really like fudge.

What is also increasingly common amongst Mass Effect fanfiction writers is to create a self-insert that ends up joining the crew of the Normandy. There exists plenty of good fanfiction of this variety, but common pitfalls include turning the author avatar into a Black Hole Sue and/or turning it into a multi-crossover (usually with Halo being one of the more important fandoms being crossed).

The Department of Sufficiently Advanced Technology has been experimenting on technology from the Mass Effect universe, including the omni-tool.

The Mass Effect continuum's mini is a miniature Geth Colossus.

Active agents include:


 * Teyala, an indigo-skinned asari who works in the PPC Nursery.
 * An unnamed quarian in the Department of Sufficiently Advanced Technology
 * Valec, a turian in the DIA's Special Response Division
 * Ryzak, a turian in the Postal department
 * Xanthus Garkaran, a turian in Floaters.

Missions in the Mass Effect Continuum
Agents Danny Richardson and Laura Dukes (DMS - Video Games) Agents Florestan and Eusabius (DIC) Agents Anneli Rodriguez, Xanthus Garkaran, and Cinderella (Floaters) Agents Mark Sienna, Maria Nightingale, and Cadmar (Floaters)
 * Mission 005 - A Very Special Mission
 * Mission 1: Short Ride on a Ludicrous Speed Machine (Crossover with Star Wars, Halo, Super Mario Galaxy, and Stargate Atlantis)
 * Mission 4: So Anyway, How's Your Sex Life? (Crossover with Dead Space)
 * Mission 1: Let Them Eat Cake
 * Mission 3: Every Tale Also Ends Somewhere
 * Mission 5: Careful The Tale You Tell
 * Mission 7: The Wildcard (Crossover with Fallout) (with agent Florestan)