A little about me, since I haven't published anything yet. I am a huge ME fan and lore-whore, got on this site looking for my usual Tali fix and haven't come up for air since. I am currently working on my own fanfiction based off of the events of ME and with bits and pieces of the second and third games thrown in. This will be a MAJORLY AU, as I am one of the people that had severe issues with the story, plot, and character portrayals of the latter games. I am not saying they did not have their moments, but over all I found them lacking. I have below a list of some of the changes I will be making, subject to random updates when wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff allows. I am always open to advice, critic, polite opinions and even suggestions. TTFN, ta-ta for now

Changes to be made in the ME universe are as follows

1: NO FUCKING HEAT SINKS!!! The AU will operate under the assumption that the galaxy did not universally drink the Kool-Aid and decide to add heat sinks to everything and ignore the sheer nonsense of that even possibly happening, including the time it would take to even convince 1 species' military that it was a good idea, let alone several including a gerontocracy that pretends to be a e-democracy.

2: Omni-gel will remain and be in use. In the first game medi-gel and omni-gel were identical in make-up and only differed in their operating parameters. To take out omni-gel with a weak sauce excuse like "someone magically came up with a security code that blocks all useful applications" and leave medi-gel makes no logical sense and shall likewise be ignored.

3: Cerberus shall not do the anti-hero hokey-pokey. They are bad guys, that's it. No midlife crisis for them. The decision by bioware to flip-flop them as anti-heros in ME2 and return them to villains in ME3 is yet another sign of piss-poor storytelling and disregard for plausibility and as such shall be hereby rescinded by my own magnificence.

4: The role that Cerberus played in ME2 shall be replaced by the organization Legacy. This organization will be founded by 4 of the remaining companions to Shepard upon finding his body in the ice of Alchera. It's goal will be to gather aid and support from those who Shepard touched directly or indirectly in his mission to stop Saren and the Reapers to not only revive Shepard but to aid him in preparing the Galaxy for the inevitable Reaper invasion. This organization will draw resources, personal, and information from wide sources including the prothean disks you find in the first game, the various surveying, and groups such as Helena's old gang, the Flotilla, and Barla Von as a few examples. Exact nature of contributions/continued aid are still being determined.

5: The Normandy SR-2 shall never be born. A key reason for its creation by Cerberus was to take advantage of Shepard's nostalgia. The increase in size only happened to satisfy the room requirements for the extra team members and made the ship an oversized frigate with delusions of cruisorhood. Legacy shall instead design and build the Normandy's Wake (pun among more morbid crew members is to call the ship the "funeral barge" playing on the ambiguous word "wake" in American English) , an advanced cruiser who's construction shall include two small fighter bays capable of supporting at least 3 fighter craft each, a gym that includes a sparring area, and a room designed to allow the safe practice of biotic combat training.

6: The Terminus Systems will have at least 8 new races personally created and fleshed out by moi. In ME we are given the impression that the Terminus systems are filled to the brim with powerful peoples who the Council races were hesitant to take on, and what do we get? More of the same plus some vorcha...nuh uh. That won't be happening here, since there is not going to be any mad dash to a suicide mission, Sheppard and the crew of the Normandy's Wake will have plenty of opportunities to explore and discover the unique peoples of the Terminus Systems.(names and descriptions to be added when available)

7: EVERYONE WILL BE WEARING PROPER ARMOR AND FUCKING HELMETS. In ME one, you had the option to give your crew extremely advanced armor and upgrades, thus giving you a feeling of customization and self-preservation. I mean, you had the option to have the helmets be absent during cut scenes so that you could see facial expressions, but everyone, and I mean everyone was wearing one, Wrex and Liara included. However, in ME2 and 3, nobody seems to be worried about sniper shots to the gods-loving brain-pan and just wear breathing masks if they wear anything at all! Jack's lucky to get real clothes in a dlc and we never see Grunt going anywhere near headgear. This won't be happening here, even Jack will be wearing armor which will play a critical part in a future storyline.

8: The Protheans shall not look like the love-child of a Cobra and a very brave newt. In ME one, we see statues of the Protheans that make them look pretty much bipedal Cthulloids. We even see this in ME2 when we raid the vault of Donovan Hock, continuity was kept. The "Collectors" bug like appearance could be justified in that the Reapers royally altered them and that their appearance was a byproduct. It's a stretch but believable. Then we get Javick, one of the most POINTLESS characters ever, they tried going for the bitter soldier and all they came up with was flaming jackass. Bioware explains their magical departure from their own canon by using the tripe cover of "protectorate/slave/lesser races" Bottom line, the Protheans are stone dead, ALL OF THEM. There will be no Collectors or magically surviving "avatars of vengeance" they were slaughtered by the Reapers and anything that survives of them will be tech or architecture.

9: The reasons for the gathering of the companions will be altered to match the new AU as needed. Since Shepard and The Normandy's Wake will no longer be either spoon fed or led by the nose by TIM, they will be spending as much time trying to figure out what is going on and exploring the Terminus systems as they will be fighting the various low-survival instinct types that try to take them on. This will more than likely result in the altering of the background/ character drive in the mission.

10: Melee weapons, training and combat will exist in logical fashion. I can understand trying to limit things to keep from bogging down the game, but the idea that Shepard is able to take down Blood raged Krogan, Geth Juggarnaughts, fucking Varren for crying-out-loud, by bashing them with his gun AND still have it not jam or break was a stretch my cognitive-dissonance. I don't know about you but when several hundred pounds of "how the FUCK do I kill this thing?" is charging towards me, I feel muuuuuch safer with a battle -axe than with a heavy pistol with 6 shots -_- All guns have an effective range and there are always going to be situations where getting inside them is the only way to win, and when that happens, you are going to need something other than "Back! Back you savage Cad you! Unhand me I say!" to defend you.

11: A number of characters from the second and third games will NOT be making an appearance in my stories. Reasons will range from no purpose as it is not canon, presence will hurt the story due to having to rwrite around them, and the ever solid "I just don't like them". Those first on the Chopping Block include "Jacob Taylor" also known as Garrus Vakarian light. Seriously, examine Garrus in ME and listen (or at least try to without falling asleep) to Jacob's backstory. They are almost twins copies...aside from being different species and Garrus actually having a fucking personality but details. Bottom line, trying to force him into the story would just create more cracks than a match at bean eating contest.

Jack Harper aka The Illusive Man, I'm sorry but any character who's origins are outside of established game lore/continuity should not be made central to the story without proper introduction and establishment of importance. We learn this from the debacle of Dragonlance, where literally scores of side authors flooded the lore with extra characters and side stories enough to drown the main continuity and basically bloat it beyond recognition. There is nothing in the original ME lore to suggest the existence of TIM and he can easily be replaced by a "shadow council" for lack of a better term, thus adding to the compartmentalization of the Cerberus organization.

Kai Leng also shall not exist, he added NOTHING to the story of ME3 except to be the vehicle of Bioware's incompetent and heavy handed Du ex Machina storytelling bs.

And then there is Diana Allers...in the words of one of my favorite commentaries and critiques of ME3, "Who's balls did you lick to get in the game?" Seriously, exactly what possessed Bioware to drop Emily Wong, a character with history in the game and drive in her persona, for this space/trailer trash love child of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Nancy Grace? I would have taken Khalisa, hell that might have been fun, pitting yourself against her after each victory, fighting to ensure that hope remains in spite of spin and despair. But did we get that? Noooooo, we got a slutty excuse for Loise Lane who probably has enough space STDs to qualify as an avatar of Nurgle.

Last but not least are Samantha Taylor and Steve Cortez, lovely people both of them, but they were added to the game solely to provide a same-sex LI. While I do not have attractions that way and do not have any issues with them, I do feel however that they did not make enough of an impact with me that I feel any drive whatsoever to keep them in my lore.