Prologue
Humanity had a secret, one never even hinted to the other races that they had met since reaching out to the stars. Long before they made it to Mars, and found the key to the galaxy entombed for millenia there...
Mankind was almost wiped out, by an extraterrestrial assault. Strike after strike wore down one of the megacities, the bastions of humanity on Earth, wearing away at it. If they had succeeded, then not just that city, but all life on earth would have been obliterated, no trace left at all. And if that had happened? Well, let's not worry about that. Because thanks to the valiant struggle of a noble few, controlled by a puppetmaster who served a cause he didn't even know of – a cause that the lynchpin of Humanity's defenders unknowingly thwarted – Mankind was saved from annihilation, on the eve of their destruction.
But this was not so easy. The final attack – carried out by the puppeteer, not the invaders at all – caused a deep wound on Earth's inhabitants. A motley of warring nations, held by truce and peace, wouldn't be able to protect themselves any more, not with the drastically reduced numbers that they were left with. No, something more would be needed, more unified, stronger.
And they had the keys. Biomechanical juggernauts, and insanely advanced technology, paved the way to a global economy that was far more robust than had even been known on Earth before. Bio-technology became commonplace. But the culture, though vibrant and full of life, was a thin veneer of civilization, over the steadfast determination to never fall to attackers again, to never fail in the face of those who would destroy them. Weapons and defense technology took a massive boost forward, based largely on what was developed to counter the foes that had come so close to killing Humanity, as well as the Juggernauts themselves – the EVANGELIONS.
Biomechanical combat units, as tall as skyscrapers, armed with the ability to create what was known as an 'Absolute Terror Field' which countered the similar field of the invaders, which gained the designation of 'Angels'. Built to be humanoid, based on the flesh of the original, conquered and captured Angels – which came to be known as 'Adam and Lilith' – and armed with the strongest machinery, created specifically to fight the monstrous invaders who sought to destroy Humanity. Pilotable mecha, like something from an old anime or cartoon, but the requirements to be a pilot – at least originally – were so horrendous that none who knew of it had clean consciences. For to be a pilot, a guardian spirit was needed.
After all the EVANGELIONS were originally partially grown from the flesh of alien beings that sought to kill Humanity. To keep the alien spirit from killing any pilot, something was needed to shield them. Thus came the requirement... that the pilot's parent – preferably mother, as most EVA were based on Adam, a 'masculine' entity – be sacrificed, absorbed into the EVANGELION unit a child was to become the controller of.
Only six originally knew of this terrifying restriction. Of those six, one only learned much later. Three were absorbed into the EVANGELION – two so that their son and daughter could later pilot the EVANGELION to fight the Angels that were coming, the third so that the third pilot would have a protective spirit, even though the woman was not the child's real mother.
So it was that three children became the unknowing shield for humanity, guided by the puppeteer – the fourth person who knew, a man known as Gendo Ikari – formerly Rokubungi – the father of the male pilot. There was no preferential treatment – in fact, the son was banished from the father's presence, just after the boy had lost his mother.
But he was called back, when the Angels began their assault. He became the lynchpin, and in the end, the one who stopped his father's heinous plan for Humanity. To learn of their struggle, the losses they suffered, the triumphs that they brought about, would take a work of its own. But instead, we are here to talk about what happened when Humanity reached out to the stars, and found themselves no longer alone.
What I have just told you, is Humanity's secret. No non-Human knows of EVANGELION, of the struggle against the Angels. What they do know of, is the results.
A culture that is strangely divided – at once both incredibly militant, with technology far beyond what they should have, and yet relaxed and unconcerned of invasion or attack. This is because they do not know that, after what happened when Humanity reached out – Relay 314 – more EVANGELION were commissioned, and stationed to be the guardians of Humanity wherever it might be. How they got pilots will be revealed at another time.
But how did Humanity's grand secret change things for them when they reached the intergalactic stage? To tell that tale, the start of this one, requires... a more personal, shall we say, approach? Data is all well and good, but its the story of the people involved who truly make history come alive for us, isn't it? After all, this is the start of Humanity's Mass Genesis.
END PROLOGUE
AN: Well, this is going to be interesting. The works being used here are, obviously, Mass Effect – and Neon Genesis Evangelion, an older, but quite good in my opinion, mecha anime from the nineties. I don't know how long I'll maintain the creative spark for this story, but I hope it's at least long enough to entertain people! I'm posting this chapter, the prologue, up at the same time as the first chapter, as this just serves as a base grounding for Evangelion for the people who may not know it.
Also, as to where my Shephard in this story is going to come from. He's going to end up being a 'Spacer' born man, meaning his mother is still in the picture serving in the USN, non-biotic, working as a straight Soldier. Which of the backgrounds he'll have I haven't decided yet though.
