Mass Dragon Effect Codex

by raw666

After humanity's encounter with dilithium crystals and later the darkspawn, technology drastically change for the Mass Effect Universe. From human space exploration to an alliance that rivals the Council. The shift of power will determine if the Reapers will be defeated, or the cycle will repeat itself. The times of heroes are upon the galaxy, and nothing will remain the same.

9. Codex: Technology

Codex: Technology

A special note about these codexs for the Mass Dragon Effect story is that they were written for two reasons. Firstly, they only exist in this story, so they cannot be found in the two wikis listed below, with a few exceptions found in the timeline. The second reason is that the original had little detail or will be completely different from the wikis below, such as kinetic barriers and thermal clips. I also include all the various races main Codex, and the enemies the heroes will face more for my benefit to keep track of them. This is not required for Mass Dragon Effect, but for your enjoyment and to see how I built the world's lore. Therefore, I hope you enjoy it.

Codexs websites: wiki/Mass_Effect_Wiki and wiki/Dragon_Age_Wiki

Beta Reader: Albert

Last Update: 12/07/2020

Antimatter Reactor

While the production of antimatter is not difficult, using it as a power source was deemed impossible. There was no way to control the antimatter explosions without overloading the reactor and destroying the ship. That was until the discovery of dilithium crystals. Using large dilithium crystals, antimatter reactors use the crystals as a focal point to direct antimatter explosions. While also absorbing the energy to power the ship or station and create more antimatter particles. Making the reactor self-sustaining provided the crystals remained intact.

However, these reactors were not without their dangers and shortcomings. Suppose the reactor ever went critical within a planet's atmosphere. In that case, it could destroy a large part of the planet's atmosphere and, of course, kill anyone on the ship. Not to mention, the high levels of gamma radiation released from such an explosion would take centuries to disperse, making the planet inhabitable for organics and synthetics. The reactors are also costly to install and activate, ensuring that only large spaceships and deep space stations would see these reactors installed.

Dilithium Crystals

Considered one of the most significant discoveries in modern warfare and clean energy, dilithium crystals have substantially impacted the Galaxy. Dilithium crystals work as an energy conduit. Absorbing any type of energy into their lattice structure to be ejected as pure, compatible energy for any piece of technology or even organics themselves. With an unusually high-energy transfer rate of around 80-90%. An efficient crystal can also convert the last 10-20% percent to the crystal growth rate. A growth rate that can be increased a thousand times over depending on how much energy can be collected and contained in the crystal. The rate can also be affected by low energy sources such as solar winds that accumulate into the crystals to increase the restructuring of the lattice and promote the new chemical growth of the crystal. That is why several sites on barren worlds and space stations were built to grow the crystal for power generation and, in some cases, to produce an illegal drug made from the crystal.

While vital to energy production, the crystal itself is also very hazardous to organics, especially in amounts greater than ten grams. Direct contact with the skin could easily kill a person from an enormous amount of energy discharged. A refined version called blue sand, similar to biotics red sand, has proven to be far more addictive than red sand and has become a dangerous new drug, especially for mages. It also has even worse side effects than red sand. Prolonged exposure to blue sand case neurological decay of the user if it did not kill them outright due to overdose. However, despite these dangers of abuse as a drug, it still is an extremely important crystal and is used to power all major industries within the Galaxy. The Federation forces used the crystal in every generator within their territory while other races' use is more limited.

The Federation is the only organization that grows the crystals within their system. The first galactic discovery of dilithium crystals was on Earth/Terra through dimensional rips that appeared on the planet. Species with the Citadel Council only have access to crystals they bought from Humanity. Therefore, the crystals are put into what they consider high priority locations, like large space stations, dreadnaughts, carriers, cruisers, and even a few heavy/advanced frigates. This leaves the Council with very few crystals to test and adapt to their needs. Outside of their massive fleet of ships and vessels larger than frigates as they try to keep ahead of the military juggernaut of the Federation. The salarians have been working on a synthetic version of the crystal with no success in breaking the Federation's galactic hold on this new energy source.

Genofertilization

As a means to counter the genophage, genofertilization was developed by the Human System Alliance to form an alliance with the krogans during the Darkspawn War. Used as a fertility drug, the genofertilization increased the stable birth rates from 1/50 to over 1/1000 using enzymes synthesized after studying the darkspawn broodmothers. While it does not cure the genophage, the genofertilization gives the krogan two things. Hope and new life since fewer sterile eggs decreased the psychological pain of child loss for the krogans and allowed their numbers to increase. Many governments worried what this would mean for the krogans as their population increased significantly, while others welcomed it, for it seemed to make the krogans viably productive members of the Galaxy. It has yet to determine if it will be beneficial to the Galaxy at this time.

Ghosting Crystals

Ghosting crystals are special dilithium crystals that can copy the neuronal pattern released during a person's death. Assuming they died in six hours within a 15m radius of the crystal when subjected to an energy surge. When subjected to electricity, it shows a person's demise, not unlike a movie that the investigator can watch. When subjected to proton particles, the essence trapped within the crystal can appear conscious enough to answer questions about their life up to and, in some cases, after their demise. Anything past ten minutes spent after their death, the subject cannot remember. The crystals have been useful in solving crimes, but they are extremely expensive, so law enforcement only uses a few per year and only in extreme cases where the victim could have seen the perpetrator. Both the Union of Federations and the Citadel Council use Ghosting Crystals to solve heinous crimes. Even though turians and drell believe these crystals harm their souls during each usage. A few groups tried to ban the usage of said crystals.

Hydroponics Bays

Due to increased exploration, many races began to encounter an age-old problem, storing enough food that could last years when exploring clusters without a mass relay. To address the need for feed were two simple ideas. The first was to flash freeze various meats and other types of food to be used slowly over the long term. The second was to build large hydroponics bays usually only found on space stations, to grow a large amount of food. Mostly through genetically engineered plants that grew quickly or continuously produced a significant amount of food. This, in turn, allows a fleet to sustain themselves for years in deep space.

However, from a practicability standpoint, hydroponic bays are only put on large cruisers, heavy cruisers, carriers, and dreadnaughts due. Other vessels do not have the space to put a hydroponics bay to feed their crew. Though smaller ships accompanying a dreadnaught or carrier could rely on the larger ships for fresh food since they do have the space to feed a fleet. Both the Council and Federation have lately been using hydroponic bays throughout their military so soldiers can have fresh food instead of frozen food or rations to eat. They are routinely used on space stations, including the Citadel.

Kinetic Barriers

Kinetic barriers, more commonly known as 'shields,' provide protection against most weapons. Whether on a starship or a soldier's suit of armor, the basic principle remains the same. Kinetic barriers are repulsive mass effect fields projected from tiny emitters, and they can be enhanced by biotic, tech, and mage's kinesis abilities to increase their potency as these shields can safely deflect small objects traveling at rapid velocities. This affords protection from bullets and other dangerous projectiles but allows the user to sit down while wearing them without knocking away things like their chair. For a limited amount of time, Kinetic barriers can also protect the user against extremes of energy, temperature, radiation, and special attacks from biotics, mages, techs, and melee attacks. So long as their barriers are active, the user is safe from most dangers on the battlefield.

Only if the kinetic barriers are military-grade kinetic barriers or a variant of a military-grade can block most forms of attack. Outside well-equipped military forces or elite mercenaries and soldiers, high-grade barriers are extremely rare. Most barriers cannot block such extremes or special attacks due to the amount of energy it would take to operate such a shield. In addition, unless the shields are against civilian grade hardware, they do not last long in combat. Military kinetic weapons can take them down in one to three shots and often kill the target with the very first shot that penetrates the barrier. That is why dignitaries and elite soldiers in any kind of organization are willing to pay whatever the cost for the best protection as shields play such an important role in defending soldiers.

Particle Plasma Weapons

Before the discovery of dilithium crystals, the use of plasma weapons in outer space or long-range combat was considered impractical. Plasma-based energy weapons had limited range as the plasma energy dispersed too quickly, especially in the cold vacuum of space. Combined with the fact that plasma weapons are often energy consuming and not very accurate, it was just better to use kinetic-based weapons overall. That was until it was discovered that dilithium crystals could be used as a focal point for any kind of energy. Now, plasma-based weaponry is possible when combined with the particle energy created by dilithium crystals. The result was particle plasma-based weapons that could be used for long-range and outer space combat.

Partial plasma weapons for ships fall into two categories, plasma lasers and partial-plasma cannons (PPCs). Plasma lasers are used as rapid-fire weapons for close-range combat. With its higher fire rate than any known laser or kinetic weapon, plasma lasers are the primary weapon used to take down enemy fighters, act as a point defense system, and barrage weapons on enemy's shields at point-blank range. Meanwhile, PPCs are used in mid to long-range combat, depending on the amount of power a ship can put into the weapon to serve to take down enemy warships. They function as a turret or main cannon similar to mass effect cannons and can severely drain a ship's kinetic barriers and can cut a ship in two with one shot.

However, despite the destructive power of plasma base weapons, they will not replace kinetic weapons anytime soon. One reason is related to the range of a kinetic base weapon and the relatively lower energy requirement to fire. A kinetic weapon could strike a target three to five times further away than any PPC with precise accuracy and with far less energy. Handheld plasma weapons can only be used for a few shots before they need to be recharged, and a prolonged firefight around an hour of using just PPCs, and plasma lasers could severely drain a vehicle/ship's energy supply. A firefight beyond six to twelve hours with all systems at full power would bring power reserves to dangerous levels. To the point, it is incapable of powering a ship's kinetic barriers, engines, and even life support. Kinetic weapons require very little energy to fire and have almost unlimited ammunition so long as large slabs of metal were available. Kinetic weapons could also be used to supplement plasma weapons as they could fire at twenty times faster than PPCs and are more powerful than plasma lasers per round. Therefore, all advanced military organizations' vehicles use a combination of plasma and kinetic-based weaponry.

Planetary Shield Generator

A pipe dream to the salarians long ago, a planetary shield generator is a kinetic barrier shaped in a bubble that would envelop a city or even an entire planet. Protecting the city or world from orbital bombardment. However, until dilithium reactors were introduced, it was just a dream. Anything larger than a military installation for a city-wide shield generator would cause a planet-wide blackout due to the energy drain. Therefore, the idea was discarded until dilithium reactors became available. It was then that the dream becomes a reality as the Citadel and later the Federation members begin to use planetary shield generators to protect their worlds.

On a city level, a shield generator is placed in the center of a city and used to cover the entire city, keeping it safe from invaders. While on a planetary scale, it would work with hundreds of generators around the planet that would inter-lap one another. Either way, it is a powerful defense despite its major drawbacks, like the great power requirement and the presence of weak spots within the shields.

Planetary shield generators are very power-hungry devices that can only be sustained one to two days of continuous bombardment. Meaning constant attack for days/weeks could cause the whole power grid to fail, leaving the entire planet defenseless. Assuming it even lasts that long as an invasion can dig tunnels deep enough to bypass the shield entirely. Therefore, it is only meant to hold out for reinforcement and/or protect a city for a short amount of time. However, it is well worth it if the deployed shield could increase the chance that the civilian population would survive the attack and the cities only would receive minor damage.

Sensors

For sensors, scanners work under four types: passive, active, visual, and life-form scanners. Each sensor has its limits and in how they are used.

(X) Active sensors are radars and high-resolution LADAR (Laser Detection and Ranging) that emit a 'ping' of energy and 'listen' for return signals. LADARs have a narrower field of view than radar, but LADAR resolution allows images of detected objects to be assembled, giving a more detailed scan of the ship. It's also has a shorter range due to the higher resolution, generally within a light second.

(X) Life-form sensors are advanced sensors developed by a combined project between the humans, asari, and salarians. As well as years of research spent observing mages and demons use their powers to detect life. The sensors work by sending out a pulse of particle energy to pick up a life-form's energy. They can use that energy to determine the type, species, and even age. Unlike other types of sensors, they are the easiest to block or detect and have a range in between active and visual sensors.

(X) Passive scanners are more commonly used as long-range sensors. They work by sending out a pulse that goes at light speed. The pulse includes visual, thermographic, radioactive, and radio detectors that watch and listen for objects in space. Unless designed not to, all objects admit some kind of thermal, visual, or even background radiation (radio) that can be picked-up light-years away. Detection is almost instantaneous if emitted for a prolonged time, as most celestial bodies would. A ship or a space station can be identified using a database outlining a ship design/emission and pinpoint the model and the company and/or race that built it. It is unknown if it's a unique design or one belonging to an unknown race that can be detected. The only weakness of a passive sensor is the lag time necessary for the ping to detect a ship or small moving object.

Passive sensors are also the only current sensor used during FTL travel, but the incoming data can be significantly distorted by the effect of the mass effect envelope and the Doppler shift and not give reliable information. However, if given enough time (hours), the scans can tell the possible direction an object is heading and its relative speed.

(X) Visual sensors are visual devices that give a detailed picture of an object or craft. To successfully detect an object depends on the size and shape of the craft. For spacecraft have to be close to getting a visual scan depending on how developed the sensors are. Unless engaging a ship a few kilometers away, most governments do not even bother to use them in combat.

Sensors for Deep Space

Due to the time lag, passive sensors are not useful unless put on FTL communication. So the salarians came up with a simple solution. On listening posts and hidden probes, they send out a passive scan within which distance ships show up, like mass relays. From there, it sends transmissions to a hidden series of comm buoys. While not ideal since it cannot cover a larger range, it is preferable until a solution is determined to develop long-range sensors without a time lag.

Simulated Sleep Fade Machine

Ever since the Fade was discovered, there has been a strong desire to exploit this dream world that holds every idea created. To exploit this world without danger, an Earth/Terra company known as Arcane Wonders made a machine called the Simulated Sleep Fade Machine, also known as the Dream Machine. The machine enhances the brain waves produced during a rim cycle while acting as a simulated search engine through the Fade world. The user just needs a specific idea, and they can search the Fade for the idea, whether it is fictional or factual.

However, the Fade Machine may not provide a complete answer or even a partial one. Since the Fade holds every possible idea that hundreds of civilizations have ever made. Meaning that the machine needs a very specific inquiry, or it would overload the user with too much information. On the flip side, too specific information would make it impossible to find without incredible luck due to the massive amount of information the machine has to evaluate. For instance, it would be easy to find facts about earth condors (birds). However, it would be impossible to find the complete schematics of the Turian Condor class dreadnaughts since that information was either a secret or too obscure for a specific inquiry.

However, despite the Dream Machine's limited ability, it still provided enough danger for users to steal corporate and military secrets. Therefore, both the Union of Federations and the Citadel Council limited the numbers of machines the Arcane Wonders could make and who could buy them. There are also rumors that most governments used the machines to spy on others even if it would be impractical to use the Fade as a spy system. The Federation is known to use Fade Machines without search engines to keep un-implanted mages safe from the demons in the Fade.

Tactical Cloak

Developed originally by the geth during the Morning War and later introduced to the galactic market by desperate quarians who salvaged the tech. The tactical cloak is a specialized device that allows the user to become invisible to most forms of visual and technological detection in environments outside of space. It works by creating a cloak of light-refracting mass effect fields that envelope the person or object using the field. So long as the field is not disrupted, such as by the enemy or the ship's weapons, the field will last. Disruption is a minor weakness, and the cloak has become a must for spies, infiltrators, and snipers, while techs have modified them for holograms and such as other forms of combat. For a ship, it is not as useful.

While the cloaking technology could prevent a visual scan from finding a ship, any other form of sensor could pick up a ship's energy emission (heat, dark energy, and such). Unless the ship is equipped with a stealth drive that absorbs the energy produced in place. Another reason is that tactical cloaks can be disrupted by space junk or even by space particles, rendering the device useless. Not to mention it is expensive to line a frigate or heavy frigate hull with emitters to generate a tactical cloak. It is likely too expensive for anything larger than a heavy frigate. Leaving only a few ships with cloaking generators. Mostly elite black op forces like the STG, Specters, FID, and First Battalion have them.