Codex: Reapers

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: 03/18/2021

Collectors

Living beyond the Omega-4 mass relay in the Terminus Systems, the mysterious Collector species is glimpsed so rarely as to be taken for a myth by most in galactic society. In reality, Collectors are human-sized insectoid bipeds and can resemble massive winged beetles. They are a terrifying force in the galaxy, responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands.

Collectors generate permanent stasis fields around themselves, creating nightmarish red-shifted energy fields. In battle, they hold position whenever possible, relying on their aggressive biotics and nearly limitless power. Several types of bipedal Collectors have been identified. Acting together, Collectors have imprisoned entire cities in stasis. While no definitive forensic accounting exists to explain the fate of those imprisoned, leading speculation is that victims are harvested for scientific experimentation and neuro-biological repurposing.

Collectors: Individual Forces

Within the collector's forces, drones are the most common and numerous of the hive mind. With standard equipment of organic armor, collector rifle, and an organic blade for close-quarters combat, drones are a menace for most armies. Drones are the most basic unit and are the unit that all specialized units with specialized labor and combat roles are derived from. They are easily identifiable as they have a different appearance than their progenitor race, and they have biotic/kinetic barriers.

(X) Assassin: Assassins are specialized collectors that use a collector beam particle weapon to strip away an enemy's shields and armor from a distance. They also use small webbing on their feet to hold them in place. They do not engage in close-quarters combat or perform any necessary form of labor for the hive.

(X) Biotic: Collector biotics are specialized collectors that use standard biotic attacks (pull, push, and warp) to take down their enemies. They also use biotics to act as the collectors' heavy lifters in battle or outside to help the hive. They use a Collector SMG in battle.

(X) Captain: Captains are specialized collector drones that command a collector unit within the field. That includes seeker swarms they can deploy to pick apart enemy shields and stun their victims. They are also the most likely to be possessed by the Collector General/Reaper. When possessed by a Reaper, they have stronger kinetic barriers, harden organic armor, and they can launch a powerful biotic warp that can shred through their enemies' kinetic barriers and armor.

(X) Drone: Drones are the standard collector soldier in the field that often does the forces' grunt work while deploying webbing in the battle to keep their targets within an area. They are also used as cannon fodder for the Collectors used to protect specialized collector units at the cost of their own life. And they are the second most likely to be possessed by the Collector General/Reaper. When possessed by a Reaper, they have slightly stronger kinetic barriers, slightly harden organic armor, and they can launch a powerful biotic warp that can shred through their enemies' kinetic barriers and armor.

(X) Guardian: Guardians are specialized collectors that create helix barriers to give them cover as they snipe enemies from a distance using a Collector Sniper Rifle. They do not engage in close-quarters combat or perform any necessary form of labor for the hive.

(X) Technician: Collector technicians are specialized collectors that use standard tech attacks (cryo blast, incinerate, and overload) to take down their enemies. They also use their technical skills to hack unfamiliar tech and perform more technical repairs on a ship. They use Collector SMG in battle.

Reapers: Individual Force

The various husks that the Reapers from the organics they harvested.

(X) Banshee: Banshees are the corrupted asari often found leading a Reaper strike force. The Reapers create them specifically from asari with active or latent predispositions to becoming Ardat-Yakshi, a rare neurological condition that enhances the asari's biotic power while causing the immediate death of anyone she mates with.

Lumbering as though in constant pain, the emaciated banshees are surprisingly durable opponents. They are devastating biotics able to hurl lethal balls of energy and create shockwaves as they regenerate. What most military forces find disturbing is the banshee's ability to spawn her own warp field and seemingly teleport during combat. Although their wails have no apparent physiological effect, the psychological impact is undeniable. When banshees die, their Ardat-Yakshi genetics twist against them, causing a biotic implosion to ensure they evade capture.

(X) Brute: A hulking amalgamation of two or more species, the brute is a heavy muscle for Reaper forces that should not exist in most cases. The fusion is usually between two normally incompatible species, such as a turian combined with a krogan, qunari or yahg, or a quarian combined with a krogan or yahg. It combines tissue from dextro-protein species like the turians or quarian, which is incompatible with levo-protein species like the krogan, qunari, or yahg. However, implants regulate the brute's body chemistry to combat organ rejection to allow the unholy fusion of skills. The fusion of a species military skills, discipline, or technical skills combined with blood rage makes the brute such a formidable enemy. It is quite capable of destroying armored vehicles to get to the soldiers inside. Federation forces recommend that it is best to keep a distance, and whenever possible, not engage a brute alone.

(X) Cannibal: Cannibals are front-line Reaper units created from batarians. The nickname refers to their propensity to devour the bodies of fallen comrades. This triggers a biochemical process through which the cannibals spontaneously heal themselves and grow new chitinous armor. The transformation also appears to give cannibals a greater awareness of their surroundings, leading to more strategic behavior and careful use of battlefield cover.

(X) Harvesters: The sight of a Reaper Harvester in flight nearby is one of the first indications that a Reaper invasion is underway. Their massive wingspan allows them to quickly cover the distance between them and their prey. In the Harvester's mouth are two heavy guns that fire in an alternating pattern that makes it formidable and fearsome. However, the Harvester's most fearsome quality is that its appearance guarantees that Reaper ground troops are not far behind.

(X) Howlers: When the Reapers began the extermination of the fast-reproducing vorchas, they created a mass number of cannon fodder for their forces. Howlers are Reaper units weaker than husks but make up for their weakness with their sheer numbers and weapons. Alone, they are not much of a threat, but they have two sets of weapons. One is their sharp claws and teeth that can scrape off the armor. The second is their howl that causes psychological fear to organics. It also can serve to call in reinforcements as other nearby reapers join into the howlers' howl. A howler never fights alone as they swarm over their enemies. Federation forces recommend caution against howler swarms and train troops to use fast repeating weapons or shotguns for close-range combat with howlers.

(X) Husks: Husks are the Reaper's aggressive common foot soldiers and the base design for all Reaper units. They are created by impaling on mechanical spikes living or dead members of a species they plan to make into a Reaper Capital ship. In this current cycle, that would be humans, elves, and yahg. These spikes rapidly extract water and trace minerals and replace them with cybernetics. These cybernetics reanimate the lifeless flesh and tissue, transforming the bodies into horrifying, killing machines with various types of husks.

- Husk: The most common unit, husks, are aggressive melee-based troops the Reapers use as in hordes to overwhelm the enemy or in small numbers to ambush enemy units. At the same time, being able to lead other reaper units to their targets with the ability to sniff out organic and inorganic troops and civilians. Combined with the husks' inability to feel pain and their tendency to attack in groups make them particularly deadly adversaries. Especially units introduced by the Reapers with the collectors as they can use advanced movement-based and ambush tactics, as well as traverse any obstacle. Using suction and magnetic strips along their hands and feet allow them to stick and climb any surfaces, making them the perfect ambush trooper.

- Kamikaze: The suicidal Reaper units, kamikazes are red-colored husks that charge at their foes to grab or cling onto a target. Then, the kamikaze would explode with enough force to damage an M-35B Mako. Reapers often employ kamikazes with standard husks to increase the chance that they can reach their target. Other tactics include using a small squad of kamikazes to ambush enemy vehicles. Federation forces consider them a priority target for hitting them causes an explosion that can destroy other reaper units.

- Scion: Scions are a type of husk made from three standard husks fused and grafted together into a single massive unit with a large biotic weapon for their left arm. On their backs are "sacks" that contain redundant organs and element zero sources to provide power for their weapons that can be one of two fire mods. An arm-mounted shockwave cannon used to dislodge soldiers from fortification. Alternatively, an arm-mounted cannon that fires biotic explosives charges to take down heavily armored units like tanks. Federation forces recommend engaging at a distance with heavy weapons like a sniper.

- Praetorian: Created using 30 standard husks fused together, praetorians are well-armored hovering tanks and gunships resembling a cross between an octopus and a giant crab. Praetorians employ redundant systems from the multiple husks encased within thick armor. They are armed with eye-mounted particle beams, homing missiles encased in its "mouth," and are capable of unleashing devastating close-range energy attacks that also regenerate their shields. Making them the perfect flying escort for Reaper armies, harvesters, and ships.

They are foes that are also deadly after death as their organic components disintegrate into liquid pus while their mechanisms turn to ash. Creating clouds of neurotoxic gases that can cause suffocating paralysis and instant death for anyone near the site of their death. This process was observed after one specimen autopsied within minutes of death. Watching nanomachines break down the praetorian's organic and mechanical components before self-destructing into deadly gases. Causing the death of 17 personnel within a secured lab facility. Any personnel in the vicinity of dead praetorians are urged to protect themselves with breathing apparatus. Federation forces recommend using ground vehicles or heavy ordinance to taking out praetorians.

(X) Minions: Created from the harvesting of quarians or salarians, minions are the tech support and sniper units of the Reapers. Preferring to killing their targets from a distance while trying to stay behind other Reaper forces. Minions have little to no armor and depend on their kinetic barrier to stay alive. And they often fall back to cover when their barriers fail, a trait that caused many krogans to call them pyjak units. Thinking they were weak units used to increase numbers of enemy combatants on the field until it was discovered how they support Reaper Forces.

On the back of a minion are Reaper barriers that are used to give or enhance the kinetic barriers of Reaper units within a small radius of a Reaper barrier. Reaper barriers are placed on a wall or the ground before using a chemical process created from the minion's stomach acid that changes the structure via Reaper nanoprobes. The body acid released from a minion simultaneously breaks down the wall or ground material while Reaper nanoprobes reconstruct it on a molecular level. This material alteration ensures that the barriers can never be moved by external means and make the Reaper barrier much harder to destroy.

Minions also help Reapers secure new territory outside of combat by building Reapers barriers, weapons for troops, and organic turrets. Using material repurposed by their stomach acids to make the materials salvaged from the ground. Alternatively, cannibalize from fellow Reaper units, mostly cannibals, howlers, husks, or slashers, for their organic turrets and barriers. The ability to build Reaper tech combined with their frequent tactic of poisoning the water and food supplies of a military installation during a Reaper siege make minions a priority target. Federation forces also recommend shooting at Reaper barrier or organic turret as they are being built or placed. Destroying them causes a significant explosion that will not only destroy the device but kill any Reaper forces anywhere near them.

(X) Marauder: Marauders are harvested turians that command and protect other Reaper troops. The lean, armored creatures present a significant threat in and of themselves, but they are especially dangerous when leading a Reaper task force. Federation forces have observed marauders fortifying husks and cannibals by enveloping them in a ribbon of energy that forms a scabby shell of armor. For this reason, Federation forces recommend taking out marauders as soon as possible, right behind minions.

(X) Ravager: Ravagers are former rachni transformed into heavy artillery through a process of implantation and genetic modification. As walking organic turrets, they can sustain and inflict considerable damage. Ravagers bear egg sacs that continuously spawn swarmers. If the sacs are destroyed, either during combat or upon the ravager's death, their entire contents burst forth to charge the enemy and explode on contact. A dead ravager also expels a caustic gas and an acidic puddle. Scientists have theorized that the expelling of gasses and an acidic puddle are genetic material that Reapers used to maintain control over units of rachni because of the species' neurological predisposition for hive-mind consensus. Federation forces recommend taking out ravagers from a distance, with rapid-fire weapons aimed at the gestation pods. To not only severely damage them but to kill as many of the swarmers as possible.

- Swarmer: Swarmers are synthetic-organic creatures presumably derived from rachni workers and mutated by Reaper technology. Swarmers can be spawned by puncturing one of the large orange sacs found on ravagers or destroying Gestation Pods. When killed, they splash acidic material used to cause additional damage.

(X) Slasher: Slashers are harvested hanar created to fight in hordes similar to husks, though less armored but slightly faster on the ground and a lot faster in a liquid-base environment. In addition, unlike husks that serve as hound dogs that can sniff out their enemies and take prisoners, slashers have only one purpose: to kill anyone that defies the Reapers. With many mechanical claws on tentacle arms that can easily cut into a tank, they are killing machines as they swarm over a target. Federation forces recommend that soldiers kept their distance and use fast, repeatable weapons to take down a whole horde of slashers, which is how they appear in battle, a horde. If melee combat must be used, it is best to strengthen kinetic barriers and strike quickly in the center for a quick kill. Slashers generally have less armor than regular husks and are more vulnerable to being knocked around compared to most Reaper units.

() Thrashers: When the Reapers invaded Dekuuna and began harvesting its local elcor population, they created a new tank unit to replace the dwindling ravager's population. Thrashers are harvested elcor turned into living tanks that can use their giant legs to bash and crush their targets, including enemy fortifications. Thrashers also have gun turrets attached to their side to help take down troops. If its turrets are destroyed, they can be repaired, though slowly, through a chemical reaction applied by cannibals. Thrashers also have a large cannon on their backs that can easily turn the tide of battle.

The thrasher's main cannon fires a molten charge that can destroy any known ground vehicles, including the M-53A Varren Tomkah. Its only drawback is that it takes twenty seconds to recharge and another minute to cool down before it is able to fire. Combined with the Thrashers' low maneuverability and speeds makes it vulnerable to elite squads or a high-speed vehicle/heavy tank that can avoid its main cannon. Federation forces recommend that it is best to attack thrashers with air support or from behind, hitting the turrets first and burning away its armor. Federation forces also recommended that soldiers keep an eye open for ravagers, scions, and praetorians that generally travel along with a thrasher.

Reapers: Ship Variants

Citadel and Federation forces have classified the known variants of Reapers into four types:

(X) Capital Ships: Capital Ships are Sovereign-class Reapers two kilometers in length. They typically target the dreadnoughts, defense installations, and industrial cities of organic civilizations. Experts believe the Reapers harvest a single species of organics during each cycle of extinction to create these massive ships. Some capital ships are capable of launching small drones equivalent to fighters.

(X) Destroyers: Destroyer ships are 160 meters long and, in astounding numbers, make up the bulk of the Reaper fleet. They engage cruisers and other, smaller ships, as well as communications posts and enemy command centers. Research suggests destroyers are created from those species that are not harvested to make capital ships.

(X) Troop Transports: Troop Transports carry husks to unconquered planets and bring victims of the harvest to Reaper processing centers. They vary in length from 200 meters to one kilometer. However, unlike capital ships and destroyers, they do not appear to be self-aware. Instead, other Reapers operate troop transports remotely.

(X) Processors: Processors, also called "slaughter ships," are mobile centers for mass DNA harvesting. Like troop transports, processors appear to be remotely operated by sapient Reapers.