Mass Effect: Beyond | Episode #75

[Ceafus 88 1,893]

So futuristic! Fantastic work!

[Huston 5,800]

Ceafus 88

Thanks a lot, it's what I aim for

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: Episode 49 of Mass Effect: The Milky Way. This comes after the episode "One Step Behind", which is are parts of a two-part

special episode called "To The Reaper".

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

2181 Despoina. A system orbiting the star Psi Tophet at a distnace of 1.3 astronomical units. Despite being a garden world, Despoina poses little, if an direct significance to the war, until the crew realizes what they''ve been searching for all this time was locked here on this planet. And after days of searching the cluster, the narrowed search for Leviathan with the help of Dr. Ann Bryson closes in on its very location. As the Normandy's systems scan the planet, analyzing the basic details of the world, EDI's scans of the planet reveal a wet and watery garden world, with oceans that span the entire planet. With little visibile land from low-orbit, an assumption that 2181 Despoina, a world discovered by human probes from Skepsis 5 years ago, is a water world and a cesspit of storms and wind would be pretty accurate. And judging from EDI's scans of the planet, a treacherous storm system moving over the location of Leviathan's energy validates the assumption.

With the launch of a probe, EDI is able to establish the location of Leviathan along the southof the equatorial zone of Despoina. Simultaneously, John, Kaidan and Liara acknowledge the confirmation, gearing up and heading for the shuttle with Steve to approach the location on Despoina.

Cortez, what's the status on the probe we launched?

Tracking it now Commander, I've confirmed that Leviathan's signal originates from this planet -- I heard, how uh, Ann helped us locate it. Pretty spooky stuff.

Makes you wonder. What exactly is down there?

Bryson's team called it a Reaper killer. From what we've seen, it doesn't want to be found.

It doesn't have a choice. We're here.

Absolutely. But then what? Let's say it is a Reaper, do we really want its help?

Nobody says we have to be friends with it, but if it has the Reapers worried then we need its help.

Commander! New readings from the probe. It's narrowed down Leviathan's location, but you're not gonna like it.

Let's hear it.

There's nothing but ocean. I show a concentration of structures floating on the surface, but the probe's giving us a signal below that. Way below.

Underwater?

Looks that way. The shuttle should still be able to reach it.

That's possible?

The Kodiak's speced [specified] to almost 1000 atmospheres, though I've never actually tested that.

Well I guess we'll find ou-

STATUS!

Some kind of pulse hit us -- systems are shutting down -- Brace for impact!

As the pulse passed, the Kodiak, with its critical systems and propulsion out of whack, crash landed onto the wreck of an old and rather familiar ship -- which appeared to be a human vessel. As the Kodiak came to halt, the four quickly picked themselves up. With Steve still on the pilot's seat attempting to bring power back to the shuttle, John, Kaidan and Liara deboarded and found themselves on the derelict shipwreck, with the skies above them gray with clouds and pouring rain. It was obvious that the storm system supposedly moving over the wreck was here, but it was the least of there worries given their stakes and objectives.

Everyone alright?

A little banged up, but fine.

How's the shuttle Cortez?

Checking now. I'll see if I can get power restored.

Copy that. We'll look around.

Look at this. Whatever the pulse was, we're not the first to get hit.

Could be Leviathan's last line of defense.

Amazing. I don't recognize any of those ships. How long have they been here?

As they searched through the wreck, they found functioning datapads scattered over the make-shift tents that were obviously occupied by the survivors of the crash, their remains still on the stretchers at the time of their death. Each and every message they read seemed to tell the same situation they had encountered just moments before. But as they read in deeper through the datapads and notes left behind by the surviving crew, ominous details about their fate began to linger, and subtle hints of Leviathan's effects on the human crew surfaced. The feelings of cold, darkness as tell tale signs of the Reaper's slow and inevitable take over of their minds.

But in an instant, the situation soured and the all too familiar siren of an incoming Reaper blarred over the wreck. Ground forces came pouring in to distract the three, as the Reaper capital ship scowered the waters for signs of Leviathan. With quick actions, firepower and precision shots, they made it through the masses of the souless Reaper troops. With Steve finishing off repairs to the shuttle, within moments, Leviathan emitted a secondary pulse that downed the Kodiak once more, but on a fortunate note, the Reaper capital ship as well buying John, Kaidan and Liara some much needed time to search through the wreck for anything useful.

Discovering that the ship was a survey vessel, named the MSV Monarch, they found rigged Atlas diving mechs barracaded on the deck, likely to have been for exploring Despoina's ocean depths. What were supposedly going to be used in the intial survey of Despoina, were now going to be what survey's the location of Leviathan; and after feeding power to the inactive barracade with power cells from the shuttle, they got it open and took an Atlas diving mech out for test-run.

Okay Commander, let's get you out of there and I'll run a systems check.

Shepard, I gotta say...I'm not too crazy about this plan.

We've come too far to stop now. The only way home is through Leviathan.

Okay, seals check, oxygen pressure is nominal, systems are go. It's as ready as I can make it.

Let's go.

But Shepard...

I'll be fine...

Closing hatch. Engaging systems, ready.

Testing comm link.

I read you. Here it goes. Commencing dive in 3...2...1.

Suit holding up Commander?

Looks good so far.

Good. We're getting some comm interference an--*noise*rs4ts#@%^can you read me*noise*$E(#aa$#&^

Cortez?...Cortez?

As John descended further into the ocean depths, the comms between him and Cortez were scrambled, nothing but garbled words drowned out by a wall of white noise. Outside, everything grew darker, and the only thing visible was the few rock formations that casted shadows against the surface and trickles of light from native bioluminescent sea-life.

Reaching over 3000 m below sea level, the Atlas finally made contact with the sea floor. Through the intense darkness of the ocean floor, John fired a sticky light against a rock, to allow him to see his surroundings. Although the bioluminescent jellyfish-like animals nearby provided some illumination, it was hardly enough to break through the darkness.

I'm not sure if you can read me up there, but it looks like I've finished the major descent. Can't see much from here. Suit is...holding up. Emergency system have come online, life-support operational. Scanner indicates the probe is below my position. Looking for a way down. Shutting down all non-critical systems to preserve remaining power. Not sure how much juice the thrusters'll need to get me back to the surface. Can't worry about that now. Getting some strange readings from the probe; something's definitely down there. Reading the probe directly below me. Looks like the final drop. Can't see anything just yet.

Plummeting further into the underwater chasm, he reaches further into what appears to be the floors of a cavern. He searches for the probe, finding it wedged into a rock on the edge of a deep drop.

Looking around for signs of Leviathan, he fires a sticky to light his way through the cavern. Immediately after, a strange rumble from below rocks the cavern and shakes the very water around the Atlas. Emerging from the chasm further below arises an enormous Reaper-like creature, but with a strange organic build. Not metallic or plated. But a hardened shell protecting the organic's very flesh. It wasn't what John expected.

As it emerged, it's organic Reaper-like form became more evident, and its clearly enormous size dwarfing the Atlas. And when it rose. It spoke. Through mental pulses, communicating and voicing its anger through a voice in John's head.

You have come too far.

I had to find you.

This is not your domain, you have breached the darkness.

You killed a Reaper. I need to know why.

They are our enemy, one that seeks our extermination.

But I thought you were a Reaper.

They were only a cause. We existed long before.

Then what are you?

Something more...

Vivid images began to rack John's mind. As if he were mentally transported into...a dark...and cold place.

As Leviathan gained control of Shepard's mind, he found himself trapped in that cold and dark place, surrounded by a vast emptiness with a confusing environment he could not contemplate. He spoke to Leviathan through his memories, visualizing the very people he found under the thrall of Leviathan's mind.

*cough-choke*

Your mind belongs to me. Breathe.

Ann...What's happening?

Your memories give voice to our words. Accept this.

Leviathan gave answers to the very origin of the Reapers, their purpose and yet, other such details still remained a blur, even for the sapient aquatic race that intentionally created the AI that built up the Reaper armada and initiated the cycles of galactic extinctions. And before Leviathan trapped John, he attempts to convince it to release him. With no viable options at hand and their location and saftey on Despoina compromised, John convinces it to release him in the hopes that they defeat the Reapers as retribution for their lost race. But however, the Leviathan creature makes it clear that it/they will not fight for the cause of lesser races.

As Leviathan releases him, he gains conciousness and immediately pulls back, engaging the Atlas' thrusters to get back to the surface.

As he surfaces, the Atlas lands back on the wreck of the Monarch. Steadily, John eases out of the seat and falls to the ground, weak, half concious, and unstable.

Stumbling on the ground, he draws the attention of brutes making their way across the wreck, but within seconds, the two spontaneously engage each other while ignoring Shepard on the floor of the wreck.

Kaidan and Liara who are firing on the remaining husks, cannibals and brutes in the distance then make the run to get John, Liara providing a cover fire while Kaidan picks John up from the cold hard steel floor.

Shepard's back. Cortez, talk to me.

We're good to go. I don't know what the Commander did but the pulse is offline.

Steve brings the shuttle down to the wreck, opening the doors to allow Liara, Kaidan and John in. As they board, husks from out of nowhere begin gripping on the shuttle. The door behind them seals shut, and they make a run for it before the Reaper makes its way back. But they were too late.

Commander, we got a Reaper inbound!

But to there luck, a pulse directed at the Reaper disables it, and the capital ship passes them by, heading for the waters.

The Reaper crashes into the ocean and drowns behind them, as Cortez brings the Kodiak up, leaving behind them Despoina.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

 

- Coming Up Next -

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[Schulmanator 5,812]

Awesome! Great pics, great effects and great story. Though you are thoroughly dissuading me from space travel

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

Fantastic, Huston! 

I said that and I'll repeat, I have no words to your updates, its just awesome! Congratulations

[Ceafus 88 1,893]

Fantastic update!

[Huston 5,800]

Schulmanator

Thanks, but I hope I'm not. It isn't all bad out there I'm sure

 

Schriefer

Thanks, that's very high praise, and I think that you may have a word there

 

Ceafus 88

Thanks a lot

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Note: Yeah, the episode name is pretty tasteless haha. The colony though, was called Tiptree, hence the strange and almost nonesensical title. In this Origins episode, the character featured is; Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, one of the Alliance's most renowned pilots, heading the bridge of both the HSA SSV Normandy SR-1 and Cerberus built then Alliance retro-fitted SR-2 frigates. He is born and raised on the colony Tiptree, from a rural farming community. In this update, the year is in the early 2160s.

 

1 of Undecided Origin Episodes: Jeff "Joker" Moreau.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Moreau Family Homestead, Rural Tiptree. The year is 2160, and in the outskirts of a small farming town lives a young Jeff Moreau in a sizable homestead surrounded by farmland. The small town is sparsely populated, containing no more than a few stores, a small factory and scattered clusters of prefabs laid on the ground. The quiet colony of Tiptree rarely sees anything out of the ordinary, with everyday starting out plainly, and ending the same way it started. Though everything that everyone expects to happen in society happens on Tiptree, it doesn't make the planet stand out, and being out of the scope of major Alliance political and military acitivities, the quiet Tiptree seems even quieter.

Ordinary. And yet serene.

And living with his father and only sister, and another family next door, it only seemed to make the quiet even quieter.

Yes. Quiet. Very Quiet. Quiet...

...Quiet...

Coming home from school in the closest town to their homestead, Jeff's father drives him and his sister, Hillary, back home, along the unmarked roads. Surrounding them are large fields of marshland and swampy water, patched between native forests and human agriculture.

[Local Radio Comm - "We're looking to see some pretty nasty weather in the area. The Tiptree Weather Watch is issuing weather warnings across the region, expecting heavy torrential rain, gusty 90 km/h winds and risks of thunderstorms. Better get those windows shut, because this storm front moving in is gonna be a big one!"]

With the rain coming in, they hastily make it back to their homestead, surrounded by acres of bare dirt.

Jeff's home was, being a colony-kid, quite a rough and cold (not cold as the temperature) metal prefab, yet made cozy somehow in a quiet rural farm with a rundown barn.

Here, he enjoyed his life as best as possible, but being disabled by the limits of Vrolik syndrome, there wasn't much he could do, and spent a lot of time inside playing holos and simulators.

It didn't do much to make his life any less quieter.

As the storm front began to move over their farm, the expected rains and winds began to settle over the area. Loose objects were caught and trees began violently swaying with the winds.

And by the evening, the rain began to pick up, drenching the soils.

And by midnight, the thunderstorm and lightning began...rolling in.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[Ceafus 88 1,893]

Another Stunning update!!

[Benedict 3,119]

Really tremendous work as always - and the stories are getting more and more polished.

[Huston 5,800]

Ceafus 88

Thanks

 

Benedict

Thanks! I have been proof-reading it a lot more lately. There are still the odd typos though

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: There's been a spell of bad weather across my latest episodes lol. Not any better that the next colony is quite a wet world. In this Origins episode, the character featured is; Ashley Williams, an Alliance marine reassigned to the SSV Normandy SR-1 after the Geth attacks on Eden Prime. She is born and raised on the colony Sirona, living in quite a large colony in the planet's vast native forests. In this update, the year is in the early 2150s.

1 of Undecided Origin Episodes: Ashley Williams.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

A large colony on Sirona. In the depths of vast native Sirona forest, the planet's vastly humid surface has created a lush planet; And as humans discover Sirona through Prothean derived FTL technology, these forests, undisturbed for thousands years, are cut down to make way for new human colonies. But wary of the delicate environment, and still having vaguely familiarized with the local ecology, the ecological damaged one to the planet is minimized by regulating allocated land and constructing arcgologies.

But in the low density zones of a colony city on Sirona, is a very young Ashley Williams, born to a large military family who serve the Systems Alliance. And despite not seeing her father as often, being that he's stationed to other systems and locations off-world, having three sisters can make what would be a quiet prefab, rather busy.

She lived among a sea of prefabricated living modules, littered across the deforested extra-terrestrial land. It oftened rained in her area, though it never stopped her from getting out of the house to do something outside, be it play or run around town.

She would often run through the vast side-streets and walkways between prefabs, talk with friends and when her father was here, would often spend time together outside of the house; one on one, or with her sisters.

Sometimes, she would run up to the labs on top of the hill to get a view of the colony. Even when it rained.

The hill wasn't at all too high, but it was rocky and steep in areas, make it challenging to find a decent and yet fast path up without having to go the full way around.

As it continued to rain, local weather stations forecasted that the storm would get worse by the evening. And with that, people got into their prefabs and locked themselves in, bracing for the storm to come. So did Ashley, once her mother called her in.

And worse it did get. Thunderstorms began plaguing the colony. Because the prefabs were constructed out of metals, the sturdy prefabs didn't budge against the wind, though the electricity around the colony didn't fare as well when lightning strikes began overloading local power station.

The only light that illuminated the colony that night was the lightning strikes that manifested from the clouds above.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[wwetom1 831]

Stunning work!! I might have to take a trip to Sirona! After the storms subside of course

[Benedict 3,119]

Another brilliant trip to outer space. I like the spheres - they work well with the prefabs.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Nice use of those colony/habitation modules.

[Markus J 242]

You got some crazy effects

[Caracortada 291]

The spectacular pictures of this CJ left me speechless...

[Huston 5,800]

wwetom1

Thanks, It definitely is a nice planet to be despite the rain

 

Benedict
Had to make sure they didn't stick out too much and blended in well. It's great to see they did. Thanks

 

Ln X

Thanks

 

Markus J

It's one of the primary things that make up the images on this CJ. Without them, they probably wouldn't look as what their meant to

 

C4RACORTADA

Thank you

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: This new episode is focused on a vaguely described planet known as Rakhana, the homeworld and native origin of the drell which, before the complete self destruction of their homeworld, were saved from extinction by the hanar and formally reside on the planet Kahje, with over 300,000 drell co-existing with their first-contact saviors. This depicts the despair and poverty they faced on their homeworld as they slowly destroyed their planet in industrial expansion, and without interstellar travel capacity, could not save their kind from inevitable extinction.

WARNING

MASSIVE MOSAIC AHEAD:

1024 px x 7841 px

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Rakhana. The arid homeworld of a reptilian-like humanoid race known as the drell. Adapated to a world of harsh climate, scarce water and few natural resources, they fared well over thousands of years, and in the later centuries before 2000 CE, managed to serve their population that sat in the low billions. But as the industrial age dawned, rapid industrial expansion and technological advancement began to take shape, causing an upsurge in employment across the planet, and saw their quality of life rise in swaths of modern drell civilization. But their rise to technological mastery became their sudden downfall. As industry expanded rapidly, the scarce resources of Rakhana were gradually exhausted, from their world's mineral wealth, to its natural surface resources. Pollution and toxic industrial waste began to plague water sources, and the exhaustion of underground aquifers and above ground reservoirs caused mass water shortages for prolonged periods, far longer than the average drell can fare through. Weeks without water sometimes became months, and only with the alarmingly increased rate of floral and fauna extinction across Rakhana did it become obvious that their world no longer had the capacity and resources to support any kind of life. Years passed, and food shortages starved billions, and with the rise of overpopulation, their growth from low billions to 11 billion pushed the drell goverments of Rakhana to the edge.

As their situation grew dire, untold violence in an increasingly divided society saw the world split into the rich and the poor. Affluent drell afforded the necessities, water and food that was no longer in reach of the general populace. Governments slowly moved into aristocracies, and unemployment skyrocketed on ever exhausted planet. Almost mined out of minerals, the once thriving industries began to thin into a few chains of companies that dominated the planet's resources and almost non-existant economy. The impoverished underclasses and unemployed resorted to dwelling in make-shift slums houses, which engulfed their once beautiful cities, and often would develop large city scale slums within a matter of months.

The drell at the time lacked the capacity for interstellar flight, and with no means of saving their own species from self-destruction, they were left to a dying planet with 11 billion desparate people. Their civilization was rapidly deteriorating, and they had few means of saving their world, Rakhana from its inevitable descent into lifelessness. The kind of world humanity in the late 2000s narrowly avoided through the discovery of Prothean FTL travel and Mass Effect technology was what the drell had fallen into, a world of poverty and resource exhaustion, with Rakhana's ecological system and biospheres failing and slowly disappearing. Where violence and mere survival became the primary reason to live. Where slums dominated vast swaths of land.

Amefaas City. Now dominated by slums built by the unemployed and lower working class. Violence is widespread across this city, where homicides, suicides and turf wars are rampant in the streets of the slum districts of Amefaas. Factories that helped destroy the planet's environment lay in between the patchwork homes of locals. Tall, slum arcologies formed when space ran out on the ground. Filled with markets and housing, these arcologies became widespread across Rakhana's great cities. Dry lakes, rivers and reservoirs like the one above taunt the thirsty, as water becomes one of the most precious and most expensive commodities in drell society. On a planet that didn't have as much water to start with as on Earth, it has become a serious battle for what little resources on Rakhana remains. Electrified chain-link fences topped with barbwire lined the perimeter of the water reservoir site, where water pumps sinking into underground aquifers brought water up for surface distribution. Though very little of this water was likely to go to the working drell and below.

Drell society was bottoming out faster and faster, and solutions were difficult to search for in a still technologically primitive society. And time on the life-bearing Rakhana was short. Civilization couldn't hold out much longer, and nor could their homeworld.

[Benedict 3,119]

I like this update - unusual to have a dying homeworld in an update, great idea.

[Huston 5,800]

 

Benedict
Thanks a lot Ben

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: Just a quick teaser to get your attention.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

I'd hate to spoil the entire update, so here's a small excerpt of what's to come.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[Caracortada 291]

Your pictures remind me of Moebius comic...I really like!

[Huston 5,800]

C4RACORTADA

Thanks a lot

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: This episode features a batarian colony established in the same systems as a human colony. Yes. The galaxy is just begging for trouble. But low populations on both worlds mean nothing's gonna happen. Phew. I guess it'll be a war to fight another day huehue.

And to be a very typical episode of ME:TMW, it involves a mosaic. I actually only realized that the majority of all ME:TMW episodes contains at least one mosaic. Oh the results.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Teytuuna in a region of insignificant space, hardly drawing the presence of pirates, and lacking any true social and political instability. Despite the odd and rare phenomenon of neighborly batarians and humans; on planets right next to each other (Yet still millions of kilometers away from each other), little tension exists between them, and given the rocky history between humans and batarians in the previous wars in the Skyllian Verge, conflict, whether violent or passive aggressive, would have every reason to exist in Teytuuna. But no. It remains a zone of indefinitely calm relations, triggered by the distant, stone cold interactions between the batarian colonists of Awanur and human colonists of Ekera. Keeping quiet and distancing each other is the one thing that keeps the peace within the system.

As human colonists of Ekera remain out of watch of the Alliance, the batarians of Awanur remain a little less fortunate, being under the constant guard of the Hegemony. While still attempting to breakaway from batarian space, the batarians of the system mostly mine as an occupation. Although Awanur's atmosphere has a detected composition of oxygen, the quantities are still far below that of any species to be able to breathe easily on the planet. The heavier presence of carbon monoxide doesn't better the possibility of breathing outside of environmentally controlled areas; and with gravity two times that of Earth's, one could feel quite heavy and weighed down on the planet. Fortunately for the batarian miners of the planet, the corporation heading operations spared no expense on mass effect field generators.

Mining for the vast deposits of tin, copper and aluminum, Takolik Unorac Mines is one of Awanur's largest mining operations, composed of a worker population of both paid employees, and traded black market slaves, ranging from races such as humans, turians, elcor, asari, and even batarians. The facility operates for hours on end, and given the planet has a 40 hour day and night cycle, it gives superiors plenty of reason to overwork their employees, going for over 24 hours in a single Awanurian day.

After 20 hours of daylight from Teytuuna, 20 hours of night follow, and the mines light up to break the eerie darkness. Takolik Unorac employees still have another 4 hours of work to go in mining operations, not to stop until their 24 hour shift is complete.

Only a few more hours until worker shifts are shuffled, but on Awanur, it seems like a lifetime.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[Schulmanator 5,812]

Sure does not sound like the career opportunity of a lifetime to work there!

[Huston 5,800]

Normal broadcasting and commenter responses will resume shortly...

 

Meanwhile, I've got a really trivial decision/question for people here who could take some time to help me decide whether to change my current planet display to another type.

The current one is in-game (Mass Effect) styled graphics with not as vivid planet graphics. The one I made myself, remastering the planet's apperance altogether (based on the type and

description/and how it appears in the game itself) is completely different and is still being worked on. But I thought before I do that, why not see which is loved the best? So which is best?

 

The images shown below are supposed to be of the same planet, but different graphics, one based on in-game graphics and another of an enhanced image of Elysium that makes it more photo-realistic that I remastered.

 

(1)

 

(2)

[Xyloxadoria 1,098]

I would combine the two, and use the classic mass effect display with the new planet. There is quite a bit of empty planetless space in the first image, so there would be room for your bigger nicer looking planet there. 

[Huston 5,800]

Schulmanator

It sure isn't! Let's just say, don't trust batarians.

 

Xyloxadoria

Thanks for the response, it'll make it easier for me decide, and I'll try taking your idea on board

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: Playing catch up with the ME:TMW ST CJ section.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Utukku, a barren world in the Mulla Xul system, is a world situated in old rachni space. Though considered a habitable world, it's intense weather has almost scared of all potential colonists looking to settle new frontier worlds. Thus, the planet remains a barren wasteland with few thriving flora and virtually no land-based fauna; most confined to the small seas of liquid water. After letting the rachni queen live on the Hot labs of Noveria's Peak 15, John and Garrus, knowing very well that they let the queen go, begin to drift into thought as to why they would hear about rachni years later. Being that the queen was left off on the conditions that she would never threaten to start another war, scouts gone missing on the count of suspected rachni sightings on Utukku make this report strange, and somewhat bizarre.

They head towards the base camp setup by the initial scouting team sent to the system on an unknown mission.

Cortez lands the shuttle down on the edges of the camp, close to a group of gathered krogan, Aralakh Company.

De-boarding the Kodiak, as John looks out to the sight of tall cliffs and rocky landscapes, in front of him approaches a silver plated krogan. Giving a warm welcome, Grunt seems happy to see John joining him to fight what he definitely seems to think is rachni in the caves where the scouts were reported missing. After months, they catch up on their way to the caves, finding out that Grunt had become the CO of Tuchanka's most renowned and respected military company, despite being artificially bred.

And with that, John, Garrus, James and Grunt make their way towards the caves below, in the chasm right next to the camp.

To be continued...

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[Huston 5,800]

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: As humans expand beyond Earth, and further beyond Sol, some old human habits die hard. But some...don't.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Preserving the environment...

We're doing it wrong.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[Benedict 3,119]

Brilliant work as always.

[Huston 5,800]

Benedict

Thanks Ben, it's awesome to see you commenting on the CJ in the forums as well. Greatly appreciated

 

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: It's so frustrating to come up with updates for ME:TMW that can use renderable BATs that don't completely fry my computer to a crisp. Because my laptop is quite old, and has a pretty below standard computing power, I can only render BATs of a certain degree of detail and a certain relative size in order for it to actually render without hiccups or errors along the way. That's why I have a hard time recreating the metropolises from the game such as Milgrom, Bekenstein and Nos Astra, Illium that require entirely new towers and buildings. I'll get there eventually. But for now, enjoy this serene and artistic depiction of a Prothean colony, as vaguely recognized in ME3.

For this update, there is no planetary or star cluster data codex as the planet is a Prothean colony, existing 50,000 years before the Common Era.

Sorry for the short update.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Holding an Eco-shard. An intricate example of Prothean technology, witholding physical memories passed on by generations of Prothean individuals. With such high mental capabilities, Javik grasps the shard firmly, and his mind slowly being taken into the memories of hundreds and thousands of others. Remembering worlds long lost in the previous cycle, to the devastation brought upon by the Reapers.

Worlds long lost, recalling the system of Judahr IV; a barren world of ice and snow.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

Short update, but still perfect! Great job.

About the clouds, they're mod or editing?

[Huston 5,800]

 

Schriefer

Thanks a lot. The clouds, in this case, are photoshopped since you can't get clouds that thick in SC4

 

_____________________________________________________________________

 

Note: This update is to fill in the missing 9th episode that I had never made. You may also find the BATs rather disproportionate to the flora and landscape. The reason? Let's just say 3ds Max won.

_____________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

I'd also just like to use this post to say a GREAT BIG THANKS to all the readers, commenters, supporters and followers of Mass Effect: The Milky Way.

This City Journal couldn't have been as successful as it was in 2013 without you guys!

Thanks for nominating ME:TMW for a trixie!

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

 

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

Wow! That's a huge city!

And congratulations for your Trixie! You deserved it!

[Follarch 327]

Welcome to the Best SciFi CJ club, we have chips and dip.