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[MrFob]

So, I just started to read Revelation again and the prologue actually has some very interesting stuff in it.

 

Remember how humanity managed to build a force to repel a turian attack in only 9 years after finding the prothean ruins on Mars? Remember how we managed to build a fleet that could challenge a reaper in less than 30 years and rose to the very top of a 2000 year old galactic society in the same time?

 

That's a stretch, however you put it but in the prologue of Revelation, Admiral Grissom speculates over some rather interesting in-universe conspiracy theories. According to those, Earth governments actually found the ruins on Mars much earlier than 2149 and kept it all secret so that when they made it public, things could move very fast. That's how the Systems Alliance could be created in less then a year and that's why the information in the archives could be translated so quickly and also yielded practical new inventions in less than two years. It was actually all done in secret before and the "research" was basically a media stunt to release these previous findings to the public. Grissom even ponders whether - at the highest levels - the Alliance already knew about the turians (or at least an alien race) and prepared for a potentially violent first encounter accordingly, long before they got the distress call from Shanxi.

 

Think of it like the Stargate program (not that it wasn't completely ridiculous how they could keep that one secret but bear with me). How would you make that public by the time of, say, Atlantis? The best way to do it without causing major issues would be to play it like you just found the dam thing and then gradually introduce all the cool stuff you are already using for several years as new inventions. (Of course, Stargate has the added issue that Earth has diplomatic relations with several alien races already, so that's where the comparison ends.)

 

Grissom, the character from who's perspective the scene is written, is inclined to believe in at least some of these theories.

 

I find it interesting, that apparently, Drew Karpyshyn was quite aware of how insanely fast his timeline was moving and in retrospect, this looks like a seed to give himself at least a partial way out for later. Or am I massively over-interpreting a few lines in a book?

In any case, I find it interesting and I wonder if this thread will ever be taken up again in future ME stories.

 

Thoughts?

[SuperJogi]

I haven't read any of the mass effect books but conspiracy theories like these generally only work under the assumption that thousands of people could keep something world changing, completly secret for several decades, which in reality never works. Especially in an age where getting information to the public has never been easier.

I don't exactly know Biowares reasoning for setting the story of ME in such a near future. It would have certainly been more believable to put it a century or two later, but i guess they wanted that entire "humanity is the new guy to the galaxy" thing, while still making the alliance competitif to the other species.

[MrFob]

You are probably right. Although, Cerberus works too in the ME universe and that is a secret organization as well so such conspiracies don't seem to be out of the question for the writers. (That said, if I never have to hear from Cerberus again, it won't be too soon. )

The Asari for example kept their beacon secret for centuries and the salarians are basically an entire race of Illuminati. Whether feasible in the real world or not, I wouldn't count it out yet.

[Vazgen]

I agree with Grissom. I can't see humanity getting together that fast and developing such technology in such a short time. IMO it should've been in the codex, at least as a note. 

Wiki page on Mars mentions that the first permanent settlement on Mars was founded in 2103 by European Space Agency and within a decade, both the US and China had founded permanent settlements as well. The region of the Mars ruins had a 'Bermuda Triangle' reputation. Up until 2148 when the ruins were discovered.

That gives about 30 years to establish the basis for Alliance and technology.