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[The Sauce of Awesome]

Hi there.

 

I previously had an idea for a Mass Effect AU where the Prothean Archives on Mars were never there so humanity took longer to get the the level they were in the games, as Anderson once mentioned that the Archives jumped their tech forward by 200 years. But it seemed that no matter what I run into a corner that wouldn't make it work, so I'm going to put it in the back of my mind for a bit.

 

But that's not why I'm posting this. I recently had something of a concept in my head of another AU where it's pretty much the first game set in the Mirror Universe. So, humanity is like this empire of xenophobes (think the Alliance if Cerberus was running the show and has for a while) and the First Contact War that only lasted a short while in the ME universe is still being fought and has spread to the other council races and not just the turians.

 

So anyway, I was thinking about other differences between this AU and the ME universe and I kind of wanted some advice/feedback on these, see if they're good ideas to include in the fanfic. So, here we go!

 

The Alliance is not the Alliance we know.

Yeah...The Systems Alliance in this AU is to the Alliance in the ME universe what the Terran Empire was to the Federation. I may not even call it the 'Systems Alliance', maybe...I don't know...'Systems Empire' or something. Just an idea. But anyway, IIRC there is a codex saying that the ME universe version of the Alliance is described as a 'sleeping giant' or a 'sleeping tiger' (?). Well, this giant/tiger has woken up. They're totalitarian, they're militaristic, they're xenophobic, they're...well, barbarians, barely better than the batarians. And these are the protagonists!

 

Shepard is after the conduit, but not to save the galaxy.

Pretty much the same as the first game, but you remember what I mentioned about the Alliance still fighting the First Contact War after three decades and said war spreading to other races? Yeah...well despite the mighty warmachine the Alliance has become they're going to eventually lose this war if only due to attrition, so they need an edge. Enter the Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime, an Alliance colony under attack by Saren and a small army of turian soldiers (no geth? heresy!). Anyway, events roll along as they did with Shep having a ton of Prothean data in their head and receiving a mission to find out what Saren was after (the conduit) and see if it can be used to achieve victory for humanity.

 

Saren is still the antagonist, but has the support of the Council.

Pretty much what it says on the tin. We all know that Saren went rogue and allied with the geth heretics in search of the conduit so that the Reapers can come into the galaxy and do their thing. He's still indoctrinated, still working for Sovereign, but instead of going rogue, he's still a full Spectre who has convinced the council that the conduit is some ancient Prothean weapon that can be used against these upstart humans they've been fighting against for three decades and achieve a quick and decisive victory. And so, with the council's blessing and full support Saren is scouring the galaxy for the conduit.

 

Nihilus and Garrus are Saren's squadmates.

Well...yeah. Pretty self-explanatory. With things being as they are in this AU, Nihilus wouldn't be shot and killed at Eden Prime (at least, not by Saren, lol), so I guess they would be working together as Council Spectres searching for the conduit. And Garrus...it kind of breaks my heart to see Garrus go up against his bro Shepard, but they're not bros in this AU. Far from it. IIRC Garrus was once considered for becoming a Spectre but was blocked by his dad who didn't like Spectres. What if, for some reason (like humans killed his daddy, or something), he wasn't blocked and eventually became a Spectre, one whose Cowboy Cop tendencies are in fact encouraged by Saren?

 

Cerberus is still a part of the Alliance.

Another one that's pretty clear. In this AU, Cerberus still functions as a black ops organisation for the Alliance, and is a major (and loyal) part of the Alliance at that, with their agents (of which Shepard is part) operating in human space with the same kind of freedom seen in Council Spectres.

 

Captain Anderson is a rebel.

Somehow I really don't see Anderson as being all that different from his ME universe counterpart, especially as someone who would agree with this version of the Alliance's policies. Try as I might, I just don't, but I do, however, see him as someone who wouldn't sit idly by and let his species bully the galaxy like they are. So I guess in this AU, he is what the Illusive Man was in the ME universe...but hopefully not as indoctrinated, eh? Thing is though, I'm not sure how I can go about having Anderson give much of an impact to the overall story, not like TIM in the main universe. I'll have to think about this but any advice is appreciated.

 

The Illusive Man is Shepard's mentor, not Captain Anderson.

I'm thinking of having Shepard's past be a slightly tweaked version of the Colonist/Ruthless background, in that s/he eventually grew up to be a soldier, did the whole Torfan thing (or something like it...maybe involving turians instead of batarians), became an N7, and caught the attention of the Illusive Man, who becomes a mentor figure to Shepard and, of course, Shepard becomes one of the finest soldiers Cerberus has (screw Kai Leng!).

 

Companions

Seeing as this Alliance is more brutal and xenophobic I doubt that Shepard's squad will be as diverse as in the ME universe. This is, to say, for the most part, I think the squad would be mostly human with any aliens joining more or less being tolerated rather than welcomed. So here's a list of possible squad members that I'd like some feedback on (I want to keep the final squad as small as possible, so...6?):

 

- Ashley: Human? Check. Bigoted? Check. I know that in the ME universe Ash said that she'd never work for Cerberus, but that was when Cerberus was a rogue group and not a respected (if clandestine) part of the Alliance military. Maybe she'll be honoured this time?

 

- Kaidan: Personally I'm not a huge fan of Kaidan but then I pictured him with a goatee (Hey, it's like the Mirror Universe, of course somebody's got to have a goatee!). He does have a holier than thou kind of attitude which I find annoying but he does have a strong sense of duty to the Alliance, so despite his moral objections as I'm sure he'll still be a good little soldier. If not, I may stick him with Anderson, or just completely retcon his personality into something more...mirror-y. I can see Beard!Kaidan as being a bit of a racist thug, lol.

 

- Miranda: Seeing as Shep is with Cerberus too, I suppose it only makes sense that we have more Cerberus operatives on board the Normandy.

 

- Jacob: Like him or not, Jacob's the kind of guy who wanted to keep people safe without any red tape getting in his way. It's kind of why he joined Cerberus in the first place. That was the ME universe, however, but TIM is always looking for good talent, so...maybe?

 

- Tali: This is a possible, but I'm not overly sure about it, to be honest. I did have the idea that Shep and the crew gain intel on Saren's search for the conduit from Tali (as they do in the game), but when they do, what further use would they have for a quarian? I may just have her be a cameo or something instead. Thoughts?

 

- Liara: I kind of run into the same problem with Liara as I did with Tali. I had the idea where Shep learns more about Saren and the conduit from Liara and her whole "embrace eternity" thing, but when they get what they want what further use is the asari? I guess I could make her a prisoner or something but I don't think she would cooperate all that much. Maybe if Shep fed her this whole "the turians started it, we're trying to finish it" line? I dunno.

 

- Wrex: Wrex is a krogan (not exactly the galaxy's favourite race) and a mercenary, so I may see the Illusive Man hiring Wrex as some extra muscle for Shep's mission to find Saren, if only out of pragmatism rather than idealism.

 

 

And I noticed there's an over abundance of biotics here in this list, lol! But anyway, there are also a few that could be in the squad after some major retconning. Such as:

 

- Kasumi: An idea I had was instead of obtaining the info from Tali, Shep gets it from Kasumi. I mean, IIRC Kasumi's personal missions in ME2 and ME3 involve sensitive information, as I'm sure anything on Saren's search for the conduit would count as being? What do you think?

 

- Zaeed: The man is a mercenary and was brought into the squad by TIM in ME2, so I guess the same could be done with this AU? 

 

- Kai Leng: He is TIM's go to guy and I hate to say it but he'd fit the whole pro-human thing quite nicely and I can totally see him butt heads with the rest of the crew, especially Shep. Or maybe they'll be bosom buddies, who knows?

 

- Rasa: Or Hope Lilium. Or Maya Brooks. Whatever! She's a maybe, I guess. She also fits the pro-human thing, but she seems more of a behind the scenes kind of girl, but then again so does Miranda... I guess I can stick her on the Normandy but in a similar role as Kelly Chambers or Samantha Traynor, if not as a full squad member.

 

- Jack: This'll probably take some major, major retconning, especially in terms of backstory, but I guess Jack'll be a maybe, too. Thoughts?

 

- James: James is a soldier through and through, but I don't really see him as Cerberus material. Yeah, I bet you're thinking "yet you see Kaidan?" Lol. In fact I see him more working for Anderson than TIM, so I may pass on James. What do you think?

 

 

And the rest of the squad members I just can't see as working for this version of the Alliance, like, at all. I could be wrong, there could be something I'm not seeing in them, but...

 

Anyway, those are all the ideas I have for this AU so far. I'll likely come up with more, but what do you all think so far? Is it a good idea? Is it doomed to fail? Am I crazy? Am I on something? Please, any advice and feedback is appreciated.

 

Thank you.

[Seracen]

Sounds like an interesting idea!  I am currently working on an AU/Main Universe crossover fic, so I'm still in that mindset, lol!

 

At any rate, my main concern with the story is that humanity is out on that limb alone.  Even with knowledge from a Prothean Beacon, I doubt humanity could get by without SOME allies.  Consider the asari: sure, they are the most powerful of the Council races, but even they would fall to a concerted effort by their peers (which is why they hid the Temple of Athame's secrets).

 

TIM considered himself elite, but he never out-and-out shunned potential allies (until ME3, when the Indoctrination took hold).  Perhaps  have the approach be a little better than what the Protheans did in their cycle, as humanity is setting themselves up as the alpha dog (or, if you want to be more sympathetic, an older guardian figure).

 

[tl;dr - just brainstorming ways to create alliances - basically boils down to the turians alienating other races just as effectively, causing some to ally with humanity] 

 

If anything though, this Cycle would be even more screwed, simply due to all the infighting before Sovereign ever shows up.  You could tie this back into how Saren's ultimate objective was screwing the Council races (in EXACTLY this way) all along.  This begins the turn, as humanity and the alliances that Shepard has forged become seen as the saving grace for the galaxy (even if it is a bit imperialistic like the Romans or Protheans).

[The Sauce of Awesome]

Hi there, thanks for replying. And yeah, the idea of allies did come up as something of a concern for me, at least for the beginning of the story, but I did have the idea that when the Reapers come in force, the AU!Alliance's approach would be to do as the Protheans do, as it were. But before that happens, I may have found a couple of ways to remedy their lack of allies. By how much I can't say, I'll have to think on it further, but here we go.

 

Non-traditional Allies.

Seeing as the Alliance is at war with the Citadel council, their potential as allies looks limited in the eventual Reaper War. Until a certain point, at least. So, seeing as the traditional allies are currently unavailable (like they were much use in the MEU in the first place...looking at you Sparatus!), I thought I would go another route for allies. Such as:

 

The Batarians: You're probably thinking "but they hate humans!" and you would probably be right. But as I understand the contention between humans and batarians stemmed from the Skyllian Verge. I was thinking what if the Alliance enticed the Hegemony into allying with them with the Skyllian Verge (it is an area of 'batarian interest' after all) and there's nothing really stopping the Alliance from reneging once they're the big dogs of the galaxy.

 

That and I believe they're none too fond of the Council either, so at worst it could be a kind of "enemy of my enemy" situation between them.

 

The Terminus Systems: In the MEU the council didn't want anything to do with the Terminus because doing so would trigger a war. Perhaps the terminus is powerful enough to be at least a small threat, with it's warlords and pirate fleets and such. Aria T'Loak certainly has a pretty big fleet by herself. Maybe they won't be as viable as allies, given the mercenary nature of the majority of the terminus systems inhabitants they may just as easily fight for the Citadel as for the Alliance - credits are credits, after all - but I guess we'll have to see.

 

The Krogan: Again with the terminus, the krogan have a reputation for being pirates and mercenaries and so their nature being what it is would fight for the highest bidder. However, seeing as it wasn't humans who neutered their entire species they may find their credits slightly more appealing than the council's. Who knows?

 

Collaborators:

Throughout history, there were always collaborators willing to work with 'the enemy', for whatever reason they have to work with them, be it for money, power, etc... Despite their xenophobic nature the AU Alliance, I'd like to think that even they would see the benefit of having sympathetic people in power over the aliens once humanity are the big dogs. And as it is, I think I may have found at least one good ME character who'd be willing to be such a collaborator.

 

Matriarch Benezia: A powerful and popular asari matriarch with a literal army of followers? Yes, please! If I remember correctly, MEU!Benezia joined Saren because she wanted to - at the very least - try and steer him on a less destructive path, but she didn't take indoctrination into account (and how could she?). In this AU, Benezia would have already seen thirty years worth of war, and while humanity may be losing this war (mainly due to attrition) it's not going to end any time soon. Let's face it, thirty years of war is going to be pretty devastating, so whether humanity wins or loses, Benezia may want to bring it to an end as quickly as possible.

 

One could ask why she's throwing her lot with the humans if they're losing, but she may not know they're losing. Besides, it may not even matter. In her eyes, she could see a people recently become a spacefaring race (by ME standards) and transform into a military power to fight against three major galactic powers and hold them off for three decades. Taking attrition and the humans' attitude toward aliens out of the picture, that's pretty damn impressive. I guess humans really are special, no?

 

And I believe she also wanted the asari to have a greater role in shaping galactic events, and not only that didn't Matriarch Aethyta mention that Benezia was dissatisfied with the asari "living in the past"? So this collaboration with the humans may even be Benezia setting a very long term plan in motion. If the humans win, she'll likely be a very big voice of power with the asari, and her cooperation may allow her people to have a greater say then than they had with the council. And if I remember correctly, the asari traditionally spread their influence through cultural domination, knowing their ideals will inevitably influence alien cultures (how insidious of then ). Maybe this won't be the case when humans only just become the guys in charge, but a hundred years from then? Two hundred? Who knows.

 

Matriarch Aethyta: I know I said at least one character would make a good collaborator but thinking on it there may be a second one in Aethyta. As I understand, like Benezia, she too is dissatisfied with her people and their current situation. While she may have a different way of going at it, she too wants the asari to have a greater role in shaping galactic events. And as I understand her ideas brought her nothing but ridicule from her peers, hence why she's working at a bar on Illium. I was thinking that given the ridicule she endured, what if instead of being a barmaid she takes a look at this upstart species giving her people a bloody nose and decides to throw in a punch or two at them herself. Based on her dialogue with Shepard in ME3 (plus her comments that traits from the father species are passed down, and seeing as she's half-krogan...) I'd like to think that this Matriarch can be pretty vindictive when she wanted to be.

 

Oh, and at least she gets to hang out with Benezia, seeing as she's still in love with her, and all... This appeals to me, somehow.

 

Anyway, taking away how out of favour she is with the rest of the Matriarchs, she is still one of them, and thus has supporters of her own, if not outright followers, and she might be of use to the AU!Alliance.

 

Civilian Supporters: Okay, this is a sound idea in theory, but I guess it depends on whether or not the humans' xenophobia comes into play. Some people might see them as a bunch of racist bullies, but the same could also be said of the turians. Some people might think that humans are genocidal (they're not, by the way) and yet didn't the salarians and the turians use a little something on the krogan called the genophage? Some people may even think "okay, we fired the first shot, our bad" and protest against the war. I suppose it depends entirely on individual opinions and/or willingness to cooperate in the event that the humans win the war. Besides, I guess if history is any judge, there may be more civilian collaborators in a theoretical galactic human regime than we think.

 

Anyway, that's all I got in terms of allies for the AU!Alliance. As far as the Reapers are concerned, like I said, I am thinking of having them force the issue ala the Protheans instead of having Shepard curry favour, as it were. Who knows, this universe may be more screwed up at first but perhaps by the endgame the galaxy is even more "united" than the MEU! United under the humans' jackboot, that is!

[Seracen]

I actually saved the tl;dr from my last post, so I'll share my own brainstorm for the alliances below...

 

What if Cerberus resurrected the Rachni, while Salarian STG controls the Thorian?  This sets up more parallels between Cerberus and STG, and also makes humanity seem potentially more "benevolent dictator," whereas STG comes across as more "controlling despots."  The war drives Citadel races to take sides (hell, you could even play with various factions within the different races - eg: Councilor Tevos wants to ally with humanity, but Aria does not, or vice versa...or Wrex vs Wreave...or Tali vs another Admiral).

 

Krogan: turians committed genocide against humans as well, so it makes sense to team up; especially if Cerberus creates a Genophage cure!

 

Quarian: they are outcasts too (b/c of the Geth) so there's a source of empathy.  So, in exchange for whatever (engineering/fleets/access to Citadel Space), the quarians ask two things - 1) colony rights to Mars or one of Jupiter's moons (terraforming a new home), and/or 2) help destroying the Geth on Rannoch (hence Project: Overlord).

 

Asari: they don't want to share their Beacon (Temple of Athame) with the Council races, similar to how the humans want to monopolize Eden Prime's Beacon.  Both races see similarities, and ally themselves.

 

Batarians: actually, you could have them be the Council's white knights (alongside the turians), OR you could have them be yet another "rebel species" that the turians have alienated.

 

As for Anderson, you could have his rebels named "N7," just to provide another interesting parallel to the regular universe, and maybe his right hand man is James Vega (instead of Shepard).  Effectively, Kai Leng and Vega would switch roles.  On Cerberus though, if they were sanctioned, I think they would not be nearly as abusive as they eventually became.  As such, perhaps the experiments are harsh, but not amorally brutal.  Still you could go one of two ways with it, meaning that Jack could either be a Cerberus Phantom, or a N7 Fury (and rebel).

[The Sauce of Awesome]

I'll try not to make this too long a read, no promises, though, lol.

 

Anyway, IIRC the corporation that resurrected the rachni found an egg some time before the events of ME and initially wanted to create a clone army from the egg, only to discover that it was a queen. That Saren happened to be a major investor of said corporation and thus has access to certain projects seems at best a happy coincidence and at worse lazy writing, but I digress. Anyway, in the AU resurrecting the rachni through this corporation could be written in as a Cerberus black project, but I doubt they'd let outside investors anywhere near it. Especially alien investors. So I guess I could write in something like Saren taking Peak 15 by force?

 

I do like the idea of the STG and the Thorian. I can write that while Feros is a human colony it wasn't a strategic target in the war until the Thorian was discovered, so Saren attacked and sent a team of salarian scientists to research the Thorian until it did it's whole zombie thing.

 

Anyway, for alliances it occurs to me that any alien alliances with a militaristic xenophobic regime (in this case the Alliance) are at best going to be one-sided in favour of the Alliance or temporary, maybe with the Alliance making offers and reneging on them and then subjugating their former allies once they are no longer of use.

 

And as for Anderson, I do like the N7 idea, but being honest I think he's going to be as much relevance to the story as Cerberus was in ME1. That isn't to say he won't be a presence in the story, he'll just be a minor one.

 

Anyway, I've been thinking some more on squad members and I may have come up with a suitable squad.

 

- Ashley (Soldier)

- Tali (Engineer)

- Jack OR Liara (Adept)

- Kai Leng (Infiltrator)

- Wrex OR Jacob (Vanguard)

- Miranda (Sentinel)

 

Ashley, because natch.

 

Kai Leng and Miranda because it'd make sense for TIM to have his best people on this. And I can have Leng be the guy from the books and not the pansy in the game.

 

Wrex because he's a mercenary, and Cerberus could easily hire him since they recognise that a krogan battlemaster could be useful to them.

 

Alternatively I could use Jacob, due to his 'protect the people he cares about at all costs' mentality, that brought him to Cerberus in the first place. But then again, I like Wrex more than I do Jacob. Decisions, decisions. They're a heavy risk...

 

Jack may need some MAJOR retconning here to justify her presence. Maybe instead of having her be this angry chick that Cerberus experimented on, I can have her be the 'Kaidan' of the story...who happens to be a Phantom...with a shotgun. Hell, I may even get to refer to her by her actual name!

 

Alternatively, I can keep Jack as she is (and have her work with Anderson) and just put Liara in the squad, but that may take some justification. Though being honest, why Shepard allows civilians (looking at you, Liara and Tali) on the ground in a military operation is beyond me...

 

Tali will also need justification but I'd like to stick her in the squad. Maybe TIM was impressed with how she handled herself when hiding from Saren? I dunno...

 

EDIT: Actually, it occurs to me that Tali was recruited on the Citadel in the MEU, so the justification needed to include her may be bigger than I initially thought. Hmmm....thoughts?

[Seracen]

I like the idea of Jack as a female Kaidan, and that frees Kaidan up to be one of Anderson's squad too, if you feel like going that route.  As for Thorian vs Rachni...you could have it be that Saren's people (via STG) steal the Thorian experiments, so Cerberus raids Peak 15 in retaliation.  I think the dichotomy in what they do with the research will provide a nice foil too - Saren just wants slaves, Humanity needs allies!  Two forms of xenophobia, but Humanity is forced to adapt, or remain alone and overpowered.

 

If you want to keep Jack and Kaidan as part of Shep's crew, you could have it be the Turians who were experimenting on the effects of biotics on humans (perhaps to create indoctrinated sleepers among Humanity's elite), and then Cerberus busts them out.  Again, this is AU, so as long as the core of the character is there, you can do whatever you want to their origin.  So Jack's hatred could be against those "Turian bastards" as opposed to Cerberus.  As far as her hatred of Miranda is concerned, she might just look on Miranda's crisp militaristic nature as reminiscent of Turians.  This would be further amusing b/c such comparisons would likely tick Miranda off!

 

EDIT: just realized you could have Jacob's idealism lead him to Anderson, as opposed to Shepard.  I've never been a big Jacob fan, so seeing him as an antagonist might make for a compelling hook, and turn him into a more interesting character (honorable, but a constant thorn in the side).  This could eventually lead to a forced Alliance between the rebel N7 and Cerberus in your later books...as the Reaper War necessitates it.

 

As for recruiting Tali, you might have it actually be the same thing - finding out Saren's connection with the Reapers.  Humanity starts to suspect there's a larger plan behind Saren's attacks, but they don't find out how serious the plan is until Tali gives them the info (which you could have be more substantial than presented in ME1).

 

As few people trust Humanity, due to the war, the Council doesn't believe them.  This causes Shepard to have to find allies where possible, leading to fringe elements in the various alien races, thus...

 

- Wrex/mercs, which eventually develop into political ties to Krogans/Batarians - who are sympathetic b/c of "Turian genocide practices"

- use Liara to undermine Saren's prime supporter (Matriarch Benezia) - originally for selfish reasons, but Liara quickly proves useful.

- perhaps Liara's already an info broker, & sees the Reaper signs, between that and her archaeology, but only Shep will believe her

- Aria b/c of course Aria, lol!

- Maelon (or Mordin) b/c they realize how corrupt the system is becoming (just like in ME2)

 

Like I said, this is AU, and it's your work.  You should be able to find a way to create alliances any way you please, so long as the spirit of the characters remains consistent!

[The Sauce of Awesome]

Of course, you're absolutely right about keeping to the core of the characters. So, with that in mind, I wondered if this would work for Jack's altered backstory (seeing as she could be the 'Kaidan' of the story).

 

I was thinking about the Teltin facility, and wondered if it would still have existed if Cerberus was still a part of the Alliance. As I understand, it was run by a splinter group and the experiments were unsanctioned by Cerberus. So maybe, if Cerberus is still officially an Alliance black ops group, the Teltin facility didn't? 

 

I also thought about BAaT, and how it was shut down when Kaidan killed one of the instructors and said instructor's training methods were brought to light. Seeing as this Alliance is more xenophobic and more militaristic I guess they'd care more about results than about one dead alien, so BAaT stayed open and is the primary training facility for biotics. Also, because the turians in the MEU were mercs, they might still work as instructors in this AU.

 

So anyway, based on these assumptions, here goes. Young Jack develops biotic powers at age 4 (as she did in the MEU) and as a result was sent to BAaT on Jump Zero, where she learned how to control her powers under the boot heel of the turian mercenaries. Suffice to say that since she was very young compared to the other students, she didn't appreciate the kind of abuses she was subjected to, and as she grew she became more and more rebellious against her instructors. However, despite her lack of discipline, she was among the most powerful biotics produced, and was considered a roaring success. So she was invited to train with Cerberus' Phantom program, and while she didn't lose her sense of rebellion, she did find a soldiers life to be for her...after a fashion.

 

However, one day while on a mission, she disobeyed orders given to her by a superior officer, and even shot him and several of his subordinates. When questioned she won't give the reasons for her insubordination and mutiny, only that the officers in question "were a**holes."

 

Shepard would pass her by while on Cronos Station after the Eden Prime incident, escorted to a cell to await charges. Shepard wonders what the deal was with 'the Phantom' and looks into it and sees an operative with an impressive - if spotty - combat record. So s/he makes a deal with Jack: Work with them and get a pardon, or stay in the cell and most likely get spaced.

 

That's what I got so far with Jack.

 

So, she'd still be rebellious thanks to her treatment at the hands of the turian instructors. She'd still dislike Miranda because she reminds her so much of her instructors. It's all rather Freudian, but meh...

[Seracen]

Yeah, that's sort of what I had in mind too.  If you wanted to further mimic the original story, you could have Jack be the childhood friend that Kaidan killed his instructor over, or vice versa.  That brings a whole bunch of issues for the characters to sink their teethes into...

 

Are they still a couple?  Were they ever, or was it a bro/sis kind of deal?

 

What does this mean when Shep recruits one?  Does he recruit both, or is one an enemy?

 

Does this help them create an alliance with the rebels later?  All sorts of things!

[Treacherous J Slither]

I only read the first post so:

I like the new take on the Alliance (Empire) but there's no way we would last 30 years against the turians or any of the spacefaring species that arrived before us.

We would be rookies on the galactic stage. The turians have the largest military in the galaxy and if they were to turn their full attention on us I doubt we'd last a single year.

Our xenophobia would mean that we wouldnt seek help from other species and even if we did our racism and losing position would only get us a little assistance from mercenaries that might actually betray us for a better payout.

Now if the turians were hated by the other races then we could get their help but then again we're racist so maybe not.

Take away the racism and simply make us ruthless. Then it may work. Maybe.