116 réponses à ce sujet

[Cyadina]

It occured to me while playing through this amazing game yet again that...

The reapers are millions of years old, 30-40ish in game, maybe older in the end?

The mass relays were created by the reapers intending for organic life to develop in a direction they want, technology wise, but perhaps location wise as well.

The current round of organic species have visited around 1% of the star systems in this galaxy, nearly all of which are linked by the mass relays, or extremely close to relays. 

The extinction cycle is periodic, but in terms of millions of years quite frequent, they even say the signal should be given to summon the reapers back every 50k years.  So that's approximately 20 spacefaring civilizations per million years, of which their might be multiple ones like now, or very few or only one like the protheans. 

Garden worlds are typically rare, and earth has been habitable for millions of years.

How is it this planet was not discovered and colonized by another space faring race? I mean aside from the protheans anyway, who were nice enough to not colonize a perfect garden world and push us aside.

Was this ever discussed, or speculations given?

Possible thoughts..

Charon relay encased in ice, unknown for how long, perhaps prevented passage.  Protheans managed to use it however, so likely a "recent" incident after the protheans were gone?   Periodic freezing of that relay maybe?

Needle in a haystack, 50k years might not be enough for most space faring species to explore much of anything before being wiped out (protheans as an exception), maybe they just never got lucky and took the right relay?

Earth WAS colonized, but during the reaper clean up they actually managed to remove all evidence...? riiiight.

Curious about others thoughts.

Update:

Preferred theory thus far from ideas suggested in this thread.

The mass relay in the sol system is relatively new.  The reapers do something with the resources they harvest in each cycle, it makes some sense that they place relays near burgeoning garden worlds so they have something to harvest next cycle.

The protheans being one of the most advanced species in the cycles in theory founded an empire that spanned this galaxy including identifying and studying fledgling species capable of intelligent advancement. 

The protheans were wiped out by the reapers but being benevolent may have attempted to seal the charon relay in ice to protect the human race in its infancy, either from other species or the reapers.

Modifié par Cyadina, 24 février 2010 - 01:25 .

[Gill Kaiser]

Our relay was deactivated until the Protheans came across us, and they elected to study us.

The galaxy is huge, it's easy to overlook a single planet, even over millions of years.

Modifié par Gill Kaiser, 23 février 2010 - 07:11 .

[neubourn]

Yeah, if you travel to Pluto and read the description...it says the Relay (called the Charon Relay) was once thought to be a moon of Pluto (Charon), but once Humanity started to explore the solar system, they discovered it was actually a Mass Relay, which im guessing it was covered in ice or something which is why it appeared to be a moon to begin with, and of course it is what lead to us joining the council space.



So, before humanity used the relay, it was not in use, probably covered in ice, and the Council races have a rule about using Relays in which they do not know where they lead. So i would say that is why no species ever colonized or made it through the Charon Relay

[Thargorichiban]

Why do you think the dinosaurs went extinct?



Those poor T-Rex's should never have activated that mass relay! That's why we'll see a dinosaur reaper in the next game. I'm preemptively naming it Barney.

[Vendrac]

Since our local relay was deactivated they would need to use "conventional" FTL speeds in order to explore and like Gill said, the galaxy is a big place, unless someone was looking in this spot specifically they wouldn't know it was there.

[Zacarius2]

One can also assume given that with the Council being founded by the Asari and the Salarians (both very intellectual races on the whole) that there is more than likely very strictly enforced galactic laws about colonizing the home world of sentiant species. Especially under developed (pre-FTL) species. What with them believing diversity leading to enlightenment and all.

[Cyadina]

neubourn wrote...

Yeah, if you travel to Pluto and read the description...it says the Relay (called the Charon Relay) was once thought to be a moon of Pluto (Charon), but once Humanity started to explore the solar system, they discovered it was actually a Mass Relay, which im guessing it was covered in ice or something which is why it appeared to be a moon to begin with, and of course it is what lead to us joining the council space.

So, before humanity used the relay, it was not in use, probably covered in ice, and the Council races have a rule about using Relays in which they do not know where they lead. So i would say that is why no species ever colonized or made it through the Charon Relay

Gill Kaiser wrote...

Our relay was deactivated until the Protheans came across us, and they elected to study us.

Protheans activated it to get to us, humanity activated it to get out, clearly there is no barrier based on a relay being "deactivated"

The ice thing had to be recent if it affects the relay at all, if it did affect it then the protheans wouldn't have got in, if it didn't then its likely any species travelling the relay could have found us.

20 civilizations in a million years, reapers are 30+ million years old.  600 species if they were like the prothean cycle with 1 species, thousands if like us there's what 10? Humans, turians, asari, salarians, batarians, volus, elcor, hanar, quarians, rachni... 11 if you count the geth who were created, and I think its easy to assume some percentage of those thousands of species created synthetic intelligences capable of exploring as well... other species elevated to exploration status... krogan, drell

[Thargorichiban]

Cyadina wrote...

neubourn wrote...

Yeah, if you travel to Pluto and read the description...it says the Relay (called the Charon Relay) was once thought to be a moon of Pluto (Charon), but once Humanity started to explore the solar system, they discovered it was actually a Mass Relay, which im guessing it was covered in ice or something which is why it appeared to be a moon to begin with, and of course it is what lead to us joining the council space.

So, before humanity used the relay, it was not in use, probably covered in ice, and the Council races have a rule about using Relays in which they do not know where they lead. So i would say that is why no species ever colonized or made it through the Charon Relay

Gill Kaiser wrote...

Our relay was deactivated until the Protheans came across us, and they elected to study us.

Protheans activated it to get to us, humanity activated it to get out, clearly there is no barrier based on a relay being "deactivated"

The ice thing had to be recent if it affects the relay at all, if it did affect it then the protheans wouldn't have got in, if it didn't then its likely any species travelling the relay could have found us.

20 civilizations in a million years, reapers are 30+ million years old.  600 species if they were like the prothean cycle with 1 species, thousands if like us there's what 10? Humans, turians, asari, salarians, batarians, volus, elcor, hanar, quarians, rachni... 11 if you count the geth who were created, and I think its easy to assume some percentage of those thousands of species created synthetic intelligences capable of exploring as well... other species elevated to exploration status... krogan, drell

I kind of assumed that the Reapers deactivate all of the relays as they are leaving, sort of shutting off the lights as they leave their house. If some of the relays were still active while the "first" species of a current culling generation discovered them, there might be more suspicion about why they were still on.

[sepir]

Perhaps history was changed to move it into line with ME's universe? Although similar to the real history, there are unmentioned variations that account for the current lore.

[Mox Ruuga]

Protheans had obviously used it, and they were the last great advanced galactic civilization before the rise of the asari and the salarians.

After the Rachni wars, the Council had a policy about not activating unknown relays, which the one leading to Arcturus obviously was (and you need to go there before you can go to Sol). If they had been bolder about exploring, they would have found Earth.

[Cyadina]

Thargorichiban wrote...

I kind of assumed that the Reapers deactivate all of the relays as they are leaving, sort of shutting off the lights as they leave their house. If some of the relays were still active while the "first" species of a current culling generation discovered them, there might be more suspicion about why they were still on.

Interesting point, but I'd assume like humanity and the rest of the current species they'd assume the last great space faring civilization built it, I mean a giant huge float construction kinda screams someone else out there.  I'm not sure what benefit the reapers gain from turning them off, the species first finding them wouldn't likely be able to tell whether them being active or not would be normal anyway, it would take extra exploration to find the difference and then its easily attributable to another species only using some of them, power supply etc.

Mox Ruuga wrote...

After the Rachni wars, the
Council had a policy about not activating unknown relays, which the one
leading to Arcturus obviously was (and you need to go there before you
can go to Sol). If they had been bolder about exploring, they would
have found Earth.

Too recent, the current cycle not finding earth is easy enough to explain by sheer luck, I'm curious about the thousands of species that came since the reapers constructed the mass relays to allow exploration on what I can only assume is a relatively fixed grid of systems.

I mean fictional universe, plot holes exist, and unless there's some extremely compelling reason I missed, just interested in people's thoughts more than an answer.

Modifié par Cyadina, 23 février 2010 - 07:38 .

[Riot Inducer]

Thargorichiban wrote...

I kind of assumed that the Reapers deactivate all of the relays as they are leaving, sort of shutting off the lights as they leave their house. If some of the relays were still active while the "first" species of a current culling generation discovered them, there might be more suspicion about why they were still on.

Didn't Vigil say that when the Reapers started a "reaping" or w/e that they'd turn off the relay network after taking the Citadel? To divide and isolate all inhabited worlds. I assumed they flipped them on one at a time to go in and wipe out everything at the other end.

[skan5]

Something having a low probability of not occurring doesn't mean it's impossible for it to not occur. What's wrong with thinking that it just didn't happen?



I remember there was a garden world in ME1 where it was forbidden to land on so as to not disturb the natural evolution of that planet's sapient life. Maybe it was something similar? Course it's been a long time since I actually sat there and read those planet's descriptions, so I could be wrong.

[Schneidend]

Humans activated the Charon relay. Earth wasn't colonized simply because the Local Cluster simply hadn't been discovered by the Citadel races.

[Jayce]

The only answer anyone can give is that its perfectly possible that, sometime in the ancient past, prior to humans, Earth was colonised, only for the colony to be wiped out by the Reapers. Obviously this couldn't occur during the prothean extermination but could have occured earlier. Hell, for all we know, humans are a long lost fragment of an alien colony to begin with.

Modifié par Jayce F, 23 février 2010 - 07:39 .

[Sharn01]

There is no indication that earth was not colonized at some point and wiped out be tye reaper's. The prothean's where aware of earth and studied primitive man, nothing is mentioned about anything that came before them.

[Mox Ruuga]

Riot Inducer wrote...

Thargorichiban wrote...

I kind of assumed that the Reapers deactivate all of the relays as they are leaving, sort of shutting off the lights as they leave their house. If some of the relays were still active while the "first" species of a current culling generation discovered them, there might be more suspicion about why they were still on.

Didn't Vigil say that when the Reapers started a "reaping" or w/e that they'd turn off the relay network after taking the Citadel? To divide and isolate all inhabited worlds. I assumed they flipped them on one at a time to go in and wipe out everything at the other end.

I don't think it's directly stated but ues, Vigil implies that Citadel can be used to control the Mass Relays. I also assumed they shut them down before leaving, but in a way that allows them to be opened. I assume there's also a "kill switch", used during the Reaping itself, during which the relays cannot be activated from anywhere else other than from the Citadel. Heh, imagine if the Council were to unlock this power... The whole galaxy would be at the mercy of whomever controls the Citadel "master contol unit"...

[Cyadina]

Schneidend wrote...

Humans activated the Charon relay. Earth wasn't colonized simply because the Local Cluster simply hadn't been discovered by the Citadel races.

Thinking in terms of only the current cycle, the protheans discovered us letting us basically "out".  But there's the potential for thousands of individual space faring civilizations before us, and since the only intelligent life that we know of comes from either being created by organics, or organics from garden worlds I think its extremely unlikely based on how the relay system is setup, Earth would not have been found and colonized.

Jayce F wrote...

The only answer anyone can give is that its perfectly possible that, sometime in the ancient past, prior to humans, Earth was
colonised, only for the colony to be wiped out by the Reapers.
Obviously this couldn't occur during the prothean extermination but
could have occured earlier. Hell, for all we know, humans are a long
lost fragment of an alien colony to begin with.

That's the only "real" answer I can assume.  I would just assume that if dinosaurs exist in the fossil records from millions of years ago, given the timeline and the reapers assumed time line, that any species that colonized us since then would also leave some evidence.

Modifié par Cyadina, 23 février 2010 - 07:45 .

[Godeshus]

Some of this may be misinformation, but it's been a while since I played ME1.

Protheans were much more advanced technologically than what is present in mass effect present day.

I don't think that you can travel to a mass relay that is deactivated. It is possible that the protheans discovered a way.

They activated the charon  relay and studied the humans.

Reapers only kill off advanced civilizations that have activated their mass relays.

Perhaps the protheans could not figure out how to deactivate relays, so resorted to shutting it down using an unorthodox method: encasing it in ice. They could have done this to spare humans from the reapers. They went to long ends to try and protect the galaxy. closing off the citadel and what not. It is quite possible that, knowing they would be wiped out eventually, did their best to try and give future civilizations in the galaxy a fighting chance against the reapers.

-Godeshus

[jimmyjoefro]

Someone found Earth when the Dinosaurs dominated and dropped one off in the middle of a random planet. Earth has some pretty hostile creatures that may have made colonization more hazardous than beneficial.

[Schneidend]

Cyadina wrote...

Thinking in terms of only the current cycle, the protheans discovered us letting us basically "out".  But there's the potential for thousands of individual space faring civilizations before us, and since the only intelligent life that we know of comes from either being created by organics, or organics from garden worlds I think its extremely unlikely based on how the relay system is setup, Earth would not have been found and colonized.

The relay simply wasn't active, and possibly couldn't be remotely activated because it was encased in ice. The Council also forbids simply running around activating relays. Besides, the Citadel races have only explored 1% of the galaxy to date. The Local Cluster had simply not been discovered. That's all the explanation necessary. If galactic exploration were as easy as you describe, the entire galaxy would be completely mapped by now.

[Jayce]

Sharn01 wrote...

There is no indication that earth was not colonized at some point and wiped out be tye reaper's. The prothean's where aware of earth and studied primitive man, nothing is mentioned about anything that came before them.

I'm not saying it did happen. I'm saying, given there's a mass relay in our own solar system, it is perfectly possible that earth was colonised at some point in the past. There's just no fiction published that says either way.

[Sharn01]

Jayce F wrote...

Sharn01 wrote...

There is no indication that earth was not colonized at some point and wiped out be tye reaper's. The prothean's where aware of earth and studied primitive man, nothing is mentioned about anything that came before them.

I'm not saying it did happen. I'm saying, given there's a mass relay in our own solar system, it is perfectly possible that earth was colonised at some point in the past. There's just no fiction published that says either way.

You had not finished your post when I started mine, I was not responding to you but to the OP.

[Jayce]

Oh sorry, I thought you were replying to me.

[Cyadina]

Schneidend wrote...

The relay simply wasn't active, and possibly couldn't be remotely activated because it was encased in ice.

The protheans got to the local cluser, which either means the ice came after or wasn't a barrier to their entering the system.  Or like someone above suggested the protheans had unusually advanced technology and found a way in despite that barrier.  Although if humans can melt the ice to get out, I'm suspecting it wasn't much of a barrier period.

The protheans attempting to disable the relay to protect the humans seems much more likely to me, but again that doesn't do anything to explain the thousands of past civilizations which is what sparked my curiosity.

Schneidend wrote...

The Council also forbids simply running around activating relays.
Besides, the Citadel races have only explored 1% of the galaxy to date.
The Local Cluster had simply not been discovered.

Only applicable to the current cycle, I'm trying to get people to consider the fact there were thousands of space faring civilizations looking for garden planets to colonize.  The mass effect relays channel species using them into certain systems, that can not be avoided because of the lack of development of other methods of travel.  A relay exists IN the local system.  A fact you point out, that 1% might be the 1% EVERY species explores, why? because the relays go there.

Godeshus wrote...

Perhaps
the protheans could not figure out how to deactivate relays, so
resorted to shutting it down using an unorthodox method: encasing it in
ice. They could have done this to spare humans from the reapers. They
went to long ends to try and protect the galaxy. closing off the
citadel and what not. It is quite possible that, knowing they would be
wiped out eventually, did their best to try and give future
civilizations in the galaxy a fighting chance against the reapers.

-Godeshus

Quoting Godeshus for some interesting ideas I hadn't thought of and referenced above.

Godeshus wrote...



I don't think that you can travel to a mass relay that is deactivated. It is possible that the protheans discovered a way.



They activated the charon  relay and studied the humans.



-Godeshus

As to these points, they had to activate it from outside to get to the local cluser most likely.  Its the same thing that sparked the rachni wars, blindly activating a relay from another relay in a different system, its the same thing people keep saying above that the council forbids activating unmapped relays.  There has to be a method to activating them from a distance, lord knows the asari and salarians didn't travel at sub light to get to the citadel.

Modifié par Cyadina, 23 février 2010 - 07:57 .