History Fanfic / CyclesUponCycles

* TheAlliance: The Terran, Zerg, and Protoss banded together into this at the beginning of the story. Later on, [[spoiler: the Quarians, the Krogan, and the Geth are brought in as their respective protectorates.]]

* ArmorPiercingResponse: When the Geth collective ask a newly arrived Protoss observer what it wants, they freeze for 0.32215 seconds upon learning it wants to help them negotiate peace with the Quarians. Given that both sides are computer programs, that's an exceedingly long time.

** Vespene gas is a potent poison especially against Turians and Asari but is considered too valuable as fuel to be used as such.

* TheBeastmaster: [[spoiler: The Beastmaster Krogan,]] who are able to temporarily buff nearby Zerg.
* TheBerserker: [[spoiler: The Berserker Krogan.]] Jenkins has shades of this as well.

* BeyondTheImpossible: Element Zero exposure has been scientifically established to suppress psionic potential and grant the surviving recipients biotics instead. [[spoiler: So how can the Asari Morinth, a natural biotic, have psionic powers as well?]]

* BlingOfWar: Legion, after [[spoiler: the Geth becomes a protectorate of the Protoss,]] gains itself a shiny gold platform.

* BodyHorror: Just about all of [[spoiler: Daro'Xen's attempts to create Quarian-Geth {{Cyborg}}s.]]
* BoldlyComing: [[DefiedTrope Defied]]. An attempt by a number of Asari maidens to seduce the crew of a battlecruiser nearly causes a diplomatic incident.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: As opposed to the First Contact War in Mass Effect, (where the Turians referred to first contact with the Humans as the 'Relay 314 Incident' and the Humans refereed to it as 'The First Contact War') the Korprulu Contact War is simply known as the Backyard Skirmish to the Starcraft races. Considering the [[CrapSackWorld Crapsack Galaxy]] that Starcraft is a part of, a conflict of that scale isn't even worth deploying Loki Battlecruisers or Motherships for.

* CreateYourOwnVillain: Due to the Koprulu Alliance's actions, by the time the events of the first Mass Effect game rolls around, Saren's army not only consists of Geth like in canon, but also [[spoiler: Batarians who resent the Alliance for nearly eradicating them for attempting a slave run during First Contact]] and [[spoiler: Krogan remnants who despise the Zerg for assimilating the majority of their race (willingly, mind you), viewing the new Krogan as abominations.]]

* DidntSeeThatComing: The Council never even considered that the Koprulu Alliance's attempts to negotiate peace between the Geth and the Quarians would work.

* FantasticRacism: The renegade Quarians not only despise the Geth, but see themselves as a MasterRace above all other species.

* InSeriesNickname: Asari living in Alliance space are referred to as Blues rather than Asari and Quarians are commonly called Buckets, mostly by soldiers.

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: The Turians at Lyria advise all colonists to surrender to the Alliance forces if given a chance.

* MadScientist: Admiral Daro'Xen. [[spoiler: After Shala'Raan's failed assassination attempt on her, she rebuilt herself and decided that the next step was to combine Quarians and Geth to form a race of super-{{Cyborg}}s.]]

* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: During a news report, Admiral Daro'Xen was said to be killed in a lab accident… only to come back as a half-Quarian {{Cyborg}}.]]

* PoweredArmor: The majority of the Terran troops. Later, [[spoiler: the Quarians and Garrus gain some as well.]] It's not as sturdy as Marine armor, but it is much easier to get in and out of.
** It also serves how well-prepared for war Terrans are compared to the Citadel races. During Benezia's attack on the ''Normandy'', it's shown that '''[=SCVs=]''', which are mere {{Worker Unit}}s, can hold their own for a while against Asari Commandos and score kills without much casualties.

* RaceLift: Because the only humans in this universe belong to the Terran Dominion, who never came into contact with Citadel races until not so long ago, a few human characters in ''Mass Effect'' canon (like Dr. Michel and the Feros colonists) are instead changed to Asari.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Primarch Fedorian when Kerrigan [[spoiler: revealed that she planned to remove the genophage from the Krogan.]] While Matriarch Benezia was condescending and Dalatrass Linron was freaking out, Fedorian was upset, but realized that the Koprulu Alliance had kept its word in the past, so he would trust them.

** The Heretic Geth, as per canon.
** A faction of Krogan opposed to [[spoiler: merging with the Zerg]] split from the rest of their race and join Saren's army.
** During the Quarian's negotiations with the Alliance, a movement started among them opposed to making peace with the Geth. Later, they go outright rogue, with plans to take over their people and enslave the Geth.

** When Dalatrass Linron keeps protesting the addition of the Krogan to the Swarm, Kerrigan crushes her holo emitter, commenting, "[[Film/ANewHope She was a boring conversationalist anyway]]."

* TheStationsOfTheCanon: To the author's credit, he does tend to mix things up, such as having first contact being with the Quarians instead of the Turians, and having the initial conflict being for different reasons. The timeline is also greatly accelerated, with only six years passing between first contact and Mass Effect 1 instead of 30.

** Element Zero. As Kerrigan found out [[spoiler: while assimilating the Krogan,]] Element Zero exposure all but wipes out the victim's psionics, with the bare scraps left over interacting with the eezo to make biotics. As soon as this was discovered, the Koprulu Alliance immediately banned all eezo from being brought into their territories and are systematically eradicating any sources of the substance already present.

* WeaponizedOffspring: The [[spoiler: Terror Krogan]] are able to spawn and regurgitate mini-Banelings like artillery. They're noted as not quite as effective as the regular kind, but still powerful enough to kill whoever is unlucky enough to be hit by one.

** During the talks of the Quarians joining the Alliance, [[spoiler: Admiral Shala'Raan]] discovered plots of a sect of Quarian traditionalists that opposed this movement, led by [[spoiler: Admiral Daro'Xen]]. [[spoiler: Shala'Raan]] could not afford the Quarians being thrown into instability at such a crucial point, so [[spoiler: she]] ordered the leader assassinated.

* DeathFromAbove: Reapers will use their jump packs to land on an enemy's head when they want to save ammo.

* TheRemnant: Even months after [[spoiler: Saren's defeat]], the Alliance and Council are still fighting pockets of his remaining forces.

** [[spoiler: Cerberus]] is this to the Terrans.

* EnemyMine: The Strikers end up teaming up with Aria and her forces when [[spoiler: the Collectors invade Omega]].

--> '''Kasumi:''' This is for what you tried to do to Tali, you bosh'tet.

* HollywoodAcid: In addition to the normal acid-spewing monsters that the Zerg employs, they've also developed two new Nydus Worm variants: The Aggressive, which sprays the area with acid to soften up the enemies before releasing their payload, and the Destroyer, which hoses down the area with acid at the cost of its own life. Both were developed after the Swarm assimilated the essence of a [[SandWorm Thresher Maw]].

* CripplingOverspecialization: A big problem with the Citadel races. All their tech is completely dependent on element zero and built for other element zero users. The Starcraft technology if far more varied and innovative, likely because they built it themselves rather than just copying it off others. This results in kinetic barriers, a staple defense in the Mass Effect universe being completely outclassed in direct combat compared to the far more universal Battlecruiser armour as some Starcraft weapons can bypass, and in some cases completely ignore Mass Effect shields. [[spoiler: It's a sign of how outclassed they are that the Korprulu Contact War was a CurbstompBattle in favour of the Korprulu alliance despite the fact the fleet they sent was outnumbered five to one]].

* DavidVsGoliath: Ashley's bio states that she solo-killed an Ultralisk, without psychic powers or specialized equipment. On Eden Prime, her subordinate Jenkins follows in her footsteps by soloing a Geth Prime with the aid of a [[SuperSerum stimpack]].

* TemptingFate: After Shepard comments that no one has ever returned from going through the Omega 4 Relay, one of the Marines under his command complains that they'll [[GenreSavvy probably end up having to go through]], with another Marine telling him not to do this. [[spoiler: At the end of the chapter, a Collector ship emerges from the relay.]]

* WeHaveReserves: A lot of officers treat Reapers as fire-and-forget weapons, often sending them off without any support.

Taking place after VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm, the combined forces of the Terran, Zerg, and Protoss armies manage to vanquish Amon. However, immediately after, the ghost of Tassadar warns them that there is another threat just as bad on the horizon. In the face of this grim prophecy, the three races put aside their differences ([[TeethClenchedTeamwork mostly]]) and focus their efforts towards rebuilding and preparing for this new, mysterious threat. Two years later, they discover a mysterious alien device no one has seen before. And then they find a whole slew of alien races on the other side, not all of whom are friendly....

''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10968899/1/Cycles-Upon-Cycles Cycles Upon Cycles]]'' is an in-progress [[CrossOver crossover]] fic between [[Franchise/StarCraft StarCraft]] and [[Franchise/MassEffect Mass Effect]] by The Incredible Muffin. The first several chapters explore the various interactions between the two franchises without any particular protagonist, but it eventually settles on Commander Shepard as the story rolls into the first Mass Effect game.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler: Nihlus Kryik and Jenkins. Nihlus joins the ''Normandy'' as their official red-tape cutter, and Jenkins becomes the head of the new Piranha detachment.]] On the StarCraft side, we have [[spoiler: Zeratul, as this story was written before the release of VideoGame/StarCraftIILegacyOfTheVoid.]]

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Although they are now nominally allies, the StarCraft races are still rather wary of each other and prefer to keep out of each others' business when possible.

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Urdnot Bakara and Jondum Bau.]] Tela Vasir's death [[spoiler: also occurs a lot sooner than it did in canon...and is a lot [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice messier.]]]]

** After their "war" against the Batarians, nearly everyone on in Citadel space is terrified of the Zerg.

* MakeAnExampleOfThem: The Alliance crushes the Citadel and especially the Batarians as a warning not to trifle with them.

* RealityEnsues: After seeing her entire archaeological team die, Liara develops PTSD.

* EyeScream: Saren [[spoiler: gets his eyes burned out with acid while invading a Zerg colony, the same assault that cost him his arm.]]

* TheManBehindTheMan: It's eventually revealed that Daro'Xen's RenegadeSplinterFaction was being covertly supplied and aided and Cerberus.

* ShoutOut: When Dalatrass Linron keeps protesting the addition of the Krogan to the Swarm, Kerrigan crushes her holo emitter, commenting, "[[Film/ANewHope She was a boring conversationalist anyway]]."

* AdaptationNameChange: The Reapers, now named the Harvesters to differentiate them from the Starcraft unit.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: After Joker's boast that he could make the ''Normandy'' dance, Shepard tells him to be careful about saying such things as he just may need to do that someday.

* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler: The battle between the Citadel and the Terrans and Protoss. The Citadel's forces stand absolutely no chance. Ditto for the Batarians who are on the receiving end of one courtesy of the zerg.]]

* EarlyBirdCameo: As the events of [=ME1=] unfold, just about all the human Normandy personnel in all three games show up as members of Shepard's Strikers, from Pressly to Traynor. The squad members in particular show up as officers of each different infantry type.

* ToxicPhlebotinum: Element Zero. As Kerrigan found out [[spoiler: while assimilating the Krogan,]] Element Zero exposure all but wipes out the victim's psionics, with the bare scraps left over interacting with the eezo to make biotics. As soon as this was discovered, the Koprulu Alliance immediately banned all eezo from being brought into their territories and are systematically eradicating any sources of the substance already present.