History Fanfic / RenegadeReinterpretations

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Humanity as soon as they find themselves on equal footing with the Batarians, promptly kick them... and keep kicking them.... and keep kicking them... and then, after getting bored, kick them a little more.

* TheShrink: Kelly is allowed to actually act as a counselor: if Shepard speaks to her, she brings up choices they've made and gives Shepard the chance to justify or otherwise talk them out without offering judgement.

* GoldenEnding: Explicitly averted with [[spoiler:the Suicide Mission; there is NO way to save them all unlike canon.]]

* DealWithTheDevil: Present in The Assassin's {{Backstory}}: [[spoiler:Thane was raised as a Cerberus assassin, rediscovering his culture upon meeting his future wife, and attempted to escape that life... but turned back to Cerberus for help getting revenge on the Batarians who murdered her]].

* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: [[spoiler:Sidonis turned traitor this time because the Shadow Broker threatened his last sibling's life.]]

* CloneArmy: See below

* The Xenonationalist path is better, [[DamnedByFaintPraise but not by a lot]].

* RealityEnsues: Humanity, without the implausibly fast tech advancement of canon, gets steamrolled by the Batarians. Also, the dossier on human relations with the Geth prior to the first game's events say that there are none, which is inevitable since they really haven't been seen outside the Perseus Veil in centuries.

* NotSoDifferent: Humans and Turians. Also Assimilationist Humans and Asari, with aspects such as crimes paid through labour resembling Asari indentured servitude. Humans and Geth too.
** [[spoiler:If you gave the Collector Base to the Council but fail to win its favour in ''3'', humanity ends up in a position ironically similar to the Batarians before the First Contact War.]]

NotSoFastBucko Instead of the Turians, it's the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Batarians]] who discover Relay 314. Without canon's [[DeusExMachina lightning-fast advancement rate]], humanity gets steamrolled in the initial fights. It takes decades of frenzied research (pushed along by the constant reverse-engineering of any captured alien equipment), and a guerrilla war that would make the Vietcong proud, to get into a position where humanity can even begin to effectively fight back. When it finally can, though, it does so most fiercely, pushing the Hegemony all the way back to the Batarian homeworld of Kar'Shan and more. Turian interference eventually forces an armistice...though only after a far more vicious, if still short, Human/Turian war, and treaty stipulations neither side is fully happy with.

* ClonesArePeopleToo: Humanity resorts to mass cloning to supplement its numbers. The clones are given full legal rights some time in.
** Practically seamless integration is greatly assisted by the fact that they're not all exact duplicates of each other, but more like mass-produced, normally-genetically-varied people.
** Subverted slightly- mass human cloning is made illegal at the close of the First Contact War at the discretion of the Citadel, and no clone can become a Spectre.

*** If the [[Main/HegemonicEmpire Assimilationist]] path is taken and the Omega Base is given to the alliance then:
*** Victory: [[spoiler:The non-council and associate races rally behind humanity due to the alliance treating them better than the council did. The human-allied races are rewarded lavishly, while those that opposed them, which can include anything from minor associate races like the Volus to the ''entirety of the original council'' have their relays cut off and eventually become the new Terminus systems.]]
*** Failure: [[spoiler: Humanity and the Citadel engage in a centuries long war which ends in the alliance retreating behind the 314 Relay, and eventually disappearing over the centuries. Eventually, however, humans learn how to [[Main/OhCrap build their own relays]].]]

*** Victory: [[spoiler: Human leadership during the Reaper War leads to the galaxy's races accepting the Human Council's authority. Humanity, in turn, gives Council status to the species that supported it, which, depending on the choices made, can be anything from the volus to the ''vorcha''. This would be, overall, one of the better endings, if it weren't for the fact that the species that opposed humanity, which, at minimum, constitutes at least one council race, are exiled to the Terminus.]]

* The Xenonationalist path is better, [[Main/DamnedByFaintPraise but not by a lot]].

*** Victory: [[Administrivia/NotAnExample is actually a rather nice ending.]]
*** Failure: [[spoiler:Humanity remains a Citadel Race [[Main/PyrrhicVictory but is distrusted and isolated by the rest of the galaxy]] [[Main/IroNy in much the same way the Batarians were.]]]]

*** Victory: [[spoiler: Humanity uses the base to become the strongest race in the galaxy, first among equals. Leaving the rest of the galaxy in the dust.]]
*** Failure: [[spoiler: Humanity has it's council status removed and falls behind the Citadel developmentally. [[CrapsackOnlyByComparison It still does quite well for itself though]].]]

*** Victory: [[spoiler: Humanity studies and harnesses Reaper-tech before the rest of the Galaxy, becoming a leading power. Human MegaCorps practically take over the Galactic Economy, including in the Terminus. Human political lobbies, dominate galactic politics. All of the above groups however, are under the thumb of Cerberus, [[Main/TheConspiracy which almost no one even knows about]], [[Main/KarmaHoudini much less can challenge.]]]]

* CrapsackWorld: While it was never exactly nice place to begin with, [[spoiler:killing the original Council and giving the Collector Base to Cerberus causes the galaxy to turn into one giant warzone, where either the humanity enslaves most of the sentient species and systematically wipes out the rest, or creates its own empire in Terminus, starting the era of conflict, conquest and genocide.]]

*** If Assimilationist Shepard gives the base to the council:

*** Victory: [[spoiler: Humanity studies and harnesses Reaper-tech before the rest of the Galaxy, becoming a leading power. Human MegaCorps practically take over the Galactic Economy, including in the Terminus. All of the above groups however, are under the thumb of Cerberus, [[Main/TheConspiracy which almost no one even knows about]], [[Main/KarmaHoudini much less can challenge.]]]]

* CrapsackWorld: While it was never exactly nice place to begin with, [[spoiler:killing the original Council and giving the Collector Base to Cerberus causes the galaxy to turn into one giant warzone, where either the humanity enslaves most of the sentient species and systematicly wipes out the rest, or creates its own empire in Terminus, starting the era of conflict, conquest and genocide.]]

* GrayAndGreyMorality: The Xenonationalism and Assimilation views. While the former as suspicious, racist, and all-around jerks, they're willing to compromise with the other species, always keep their words, and ''never'' subjugate someone's free will. The latter are idealistic, xenophilic, and want to spread peace, but are also very reminiscent of TheEmpire--you will obey them or die, give up your culture or die, do as they say or die.