An Anthem x Mass Effect Story

I do not own Anthem or Mass Effect, both are owned by BioWare. The only things I claim in this fanfic are my OCs. This is my first fanfic so any and all criticism will be greatly appreciated. Just a heads up, this chapter is going to be significantly shorter as I will be following a majority of Mass Effect's timeline up to First Contact to the letter.

LV = Legion Victorious Era

CE = Citadel Era

Citadel Timeline

500 BCE: The Citadel Council is formed. The asari and salarians together colonize the Citadel and establish it as a center of the galactic community, led by the Council. This year is also known as 0 GS, the beginning of the Galactic Standard (GS) timeline.As a gesture of openness with their new asari allies, the Salarian Union opens the records of the League of One. Under threat, the League responds by assassinating every member of the Union's inner cabinet; Special Tasks Group operatives then hunt down and eliminate the League.

300 BCE: The volus begin exploring and colonizing the stars shortly after discovering FTL. First contact is made with the volus. Eventually, the Citadel Council commissions the volus to draw up the Unified Banking Act, which establishes a standard galactic currency known as the credit and links all galactic economies.The turian Unification War occurs. The increasingly isolated and xenophobic colonies on the frontiers of turian space go to war with each other. After years of fighting, the Turian Hierarchy sweeps in and pacifies the remaining factions. Animosity between turian colonies continues for decades.The Council grants the volus the honor of being the first non-Council species with an embassy at the Citadel, rather than a Council seat.First contact is made with the batarians. They are granted an embassy a century later.The asari discover the elcor home system and help the elcor locate and activate their nearest mass relay. "Within one elcor lifetime" they establish a regular trade route to the Citadel and are granted an embassy. First contact is made with the hanar and the quarians. Both races are later granted embassies.

1 CE: The Rachni, a species of highly intelligent hive-minded insects, discovered when a Citadel expedition opens a dormant mass relay leading to their star systems. The Rachni prove to be hostile and begin a war with the rest of the galaxy. Negotiation with the Rachni Queens is impossible because they cannot be contacted in their underground nests on toxic rachni worlds.

80 CE: The Rachni Wars continue. The salarians make first contact with and uplift the primitive krogan, manipulating them into acting as soldiers for the Citadel Council. The krogan prove able to survive the harsh environments of the rachni worlds and pursue the rachni into their nests, systematically eradicating queens and eggs.

300 CE: The Rachni are declared extinct. In gratitude for their aid during the Rachni wars, the Council rewards the Krogan a new homeworld. Free of the harsh environment of Tuchanka, the Krogan population explodes.

300-700 CE: The Krogan begin to expand exponentially, colonizing many new worlds. Growing concerns about their expansion lead to the founding of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel

693 CE: Beelo gurji, a Salarian operative, is appointed to be the first Council Spectre. Meanwhile, in another part of the galaxy, the STG have found and informed the council about a massive Temporal Anomaly that currently envelops Relay 314 and much of the Attican Traverse.

700 CE: The Krogan Rebellions begin. Nakmor Drack is born. Krogan warlords leverage veterans of the Rachni Wars to annex territory from other races in Citadel space. Eventually the Council demands withdrawal from the Asari colony of Lusia, but the Krogan refuse. A preemptive strike is made on Krogan infrastructure by the Spectres. The Citadel Council makes first contact with the Turians around this time and persuades them to aid in the war. After the Krogan respond to the initial Turian offensive by devastating Turian colonies with weapons of mass destruction, the Turians vow to stop the Krogan from every becoming a threat again. Sometime after the Turians join the Galactic Community, the volus are accepted as a client race of the Turian Hierarchy.

710 CE: Realizing that the Krogan will never give in so long as they can replenish their fighters, the Turians release a Salarian-engineered bio-weapon known as the Genophage on the Krogan. The Krogan population starts its decline.

800 CE: The Krogan Rebellions end, though scattered krogan insurgent actions continue for decades. The turians fill the military and peacekeeping niche left by the decimated krogan. The Citadel Conventions are drawn up in the wake of the conflict.

900 CE: The Turians are granted a seat on the Citadel Council in recognition for their service in the Krogan Rebellions.

1380s CE: Extensive and unchecked industrial expansion on the drell homeworld Rakhana begins taking a significant toll on the planet's environment

1600 CE: The first sightings of the Collectors are reported in the Terminus Systems. In Citadel space, the claims are dismissed as unsubstantiated rumors and tall tales, though the ever present Anomaly is monitored more closely after this, discreetly by council spectres, yet they notice no change.

1895 CE: The Morning War/Geth War begins. The geth, machines created by the quarians as a source of cheap labor, become self-aware. Fearing a geth uprising, the quarians begin dismantling them. The geth revolt against their quarian masters. In the resulting conflict--known to the geth as the Morning War--the geth systematically drive the quarians from their own worlds. The surviving quarians are reduced to living as spacefaring nomads aboard the Migrant Fleet. Contrary to expectations, the geth do not venture outside the former quarian systems into wider Citadel space, instead isolating themselves from the rest of the galaxy behind the Perseus Veil. As punishment for creating the geth, the Citadel Council closes the quarian embassy on the Citadel.

2077 CE: Liara T'soni is born.

2139 CE: Saren Arterius is born.

2146 CE: Thane Krios is born.

2152 CE: Thane Krios is submitted for assassin training

2155 CE: Saren Arterius is promoted to active service as a cabal in the turian military at the age of 16.

2156 CE: The anomaly has vanished, and when nothing comes through after a month, the galaxy breathes a sigh of relief, before new patrol routes are chartered up, with the first patrol set to take place next year, led by General Desolas Arterius.

2157 CE: The patrol sets off with little problem. Race encountered on the other end of relay 314. First contact.