Urdnot Orrad wrote...
"Canon" in this sense means "what is considered to be factual within a fictional universe".
For example, in Mass Effect, it is canon that humans discovered Prothean ruins on Mars. It is canon that the year those ruins were discovered in is 2148 CE.
Now for another example: It is canon, no matter what you do, that Commander Shepard was born in 2154 CE and enlisted in the Alliance Navy at the age of eighteen.
Now, this is where "canon" becomes less iron-clad and is more up to the player. Shepard's first name, gender, appearance, pre-service history and psychological profile are all decided by the player for each individual Shepard they make.
They can go with the default options, yes, but those are placeholders and are not considered factual, because once you get into the story, what is canon for Shepard is up to you.
It is canon that no matter what you do, you recruit Liara because you have to advance the story that way. However, you do not have to travel to the mission worlds in any particular order, or use any particular squadmate.
It is canon that the Battle of the Citadel happens and that Sovereign loses, but what happens to the Council afterward is up to the player; the default options in ME2 are not so much canonical as they are simply placeholders used to set up those Shepards that are created in ME2 and not carried over from ME1.
See what I mean?
Everyone read this post: it is exactly the answer to this question.
'Canon' consists only of things that happen in everyone's game (such as Shepard becoming a Spectre in ME1). Canon does not include anything that does not happen in everyone's game (such as any romance).
Simple, easy to remember.
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