Prologue
Before the Great Cataclysm there was a meeting of allies. In this meeting there was a great alliance of systems. Within this alliance there were five races. First there were the Sangheili a tall proud race of warriors. Second there was the Unggoy a small race that was known to easily scare, but were strong in numbers and determination. Third there were the Mgalekgolo or the Lekgolo a race that of one mind. The forth were the silent and ever curious Huragok. Finally there were the Humans. They were the inheritors of the mantle of responsibly. The meeting was held on the Human's home world the most secure planet in all the heavens or so they thought.
For all great alliances are built on strife. And the great alliance of systems was no different. At this meeting thousands of war ships orbited the human planet of Earth each bring millions of beings from across the heavens to watch the signing of everlasting unity between the five great races. As the millions gather to watch the fateful day fire burned the heavens. For the alliance enemies struck without warning. Millions of beings died in moment. Millions more had no choice but to flee to underground safe havens. It was within these safe havens that our ancestors watched the great alliance fall.
For the great alliance of system watched as their enemies unleashed there final acted of revenge. Millions of ships filled the heavens in pitched battle. For days the battle raged across the heavens and earth. Thousands upon thousands of ships were destroyed in the battle some crashing into the earth others destroyed and left in the heavens. In a last act of defiance the enemy turned their weapons upon the Earth scorching the land. The humans most powerful weapons detonated and others were released from the metal tombs to find a home upon the alliances foes.
That was the Great Cataclysm with the new dawn came a new dusk. During the dusk of the Great Cataclysm there was hardship and death. As the survivors waited for the Earth to be habitable there was strife. Food was in short supplies even more so for the Unggoy. For the Unggoy were unique among the five great races for they breathed only methane and without a way to resupply they slowly passed on to the next life. The Unggoy last gasps were remembered in a shines in all the great underground bunkers.
The great underground bunkers were only equipped with enough food for a few years. At first there were fighting for meager food that was left. The fighting almost ended us before we began. It was the silent and curious Huragok that solved the problem of food. With their knowledge of technology they found a way to make food for everyone. With the need for food fixed culture returned to the races. However it was not the same culture as before the Great Cataclysm it was the culture intertwined between shared hardships.
When we finally open the bunkers doors for the first time in a thousand years we found a New Earth. As the centuries past by the Earth had slowly healed its self. The angry red scars of the Great Cataclysm soon became land marks upon the New Earth. The debris of the thousands of ships either fell from the heavens or formed the Ancestors ring around the New Earth. The ancestor's great cities were reclaimed by nature. However not all had been reclaimed by nature. In the heart of the great cities we found the constructs. They were Humanities greatest creations Artificial Intelligence. The constructs were not as they once were they were lost and damage. Even the knowledgeable Huragok could not repair the damage nature had inflicted upon the constructs. In the end we welcomed them into our budding civilization.
For the next thousand years we forged a new identity. During these thousand years we had our wars none a terrible as the Great Cataclysm but each distinct. However each war brought a longer peace than before. We knew what we were we were the inheritors.
For the next twenty thousand years we learned from the Ancestors technology. All the while building our own. We gave physical form to the constructs. We built cities to rival the Ancestors. We reclaimed the Ancestors histories what little there was. During this time our population reached five billion. At the turn of the century we asked one question. What happen to the ancestors?
To answer this question we built a ship to take us to the Ancestors belt. There we found more questions and we took up the challenge. Over the next ten thousand years we explored the ancestor's technology and achieves. We build cities upon the Moon, Mars, and other planets within the Sol system. During this time lines between the races of New Earth started to merge together. The line between construct and flesh disappeared. The line between the Sangheili and Human became fuzzy. The Lekgolo created hives upon moons. The Huragok continued to build and improve and we all tried to keep up to understand. Then at the end of the century we finial made the slip-space drive. We explored the universe around us we formed the System Alliance. For the next 200 years we expanded to cover ninety two systems. On the planet call Harvest we discovered an alien ruin. It was heralded as a new age of enlightenment.
The civilizations of the universe called it
Mass Effect.