History Fanfic / MythosEffect

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: One of the few things Turians and the Federation agree on is that rapists deserve immediate execution. One particular victim suggests the Federation feed her rapist to their Engels, saying a bullet was too good for him. Lieutenant Sidra makes a point warning her men that if they even consider such a thing, she'll do to them what she had done to her rapist.

* TrustPassword: Viggo demands it when he sees Adrien's back... gets a very embarassing one.

* WeHaveBecomeComplacent: Discussed about Turian military might. Last time they had a crisis remotely as bad (the Krogan Rebellions) they had the Asari financing them and the Salarians feeding them intel - and even then they were on the ropes until they managed to infect them with the genophage. Now neither race wants anything to do with their thirst for revenge, and even the Volus are deeply offended at the use of their money to finance the war.
* WhatWereYouThinking: [[spoiler:Primarch Draxon's response to learning that Councilor Sparatus was warned that the NEF ship the turians had discovered was potentially dangerous, only to completely ignore said warning and bring the ship into the heart of the Turian Hierarchy, definitely invokes this trope. Draxon is beyond livid that despite knowing the humans are capable of supernatural feats, Sparatus just completely ignored any evidence that there might be something wrong with the ship and had it brought to Menae]].

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Admiral Gallus, after his rash actions cause his fleet to be [[CurbStompBattle curbstomped]]]].

** After being taken prisoner, Adrien is released remarkably easy with no assurances he'll follow through on his promise to get the rest of the Turians in Carista to surrender. [[spoiler:This turns out to be because not only is their only possible escape route being watched as well, but the Turian general in charge of Digeris is already planning on surrendering the entire planet]].

* GodzillaThreshold: After [[spoiler:something gets loose on Palaven's moon from the NEF ship they captured]], Quentius decides they absolutely need the expertise of the NEF. Draxon agrees when he learns of it, outright ordering Quentius to beg, bribe, and promise anything he has to in order to obtain their aid. It gets even worse next chapter, when the Volus ambassador is given ''official'' carte blanche by the Palaven Primarch to promise anything the NEF wants.

* GodzillaThreshold: After [[spoiler:something gets loose on Palaven's moon from the NEF ship they captured]], Quentius decides they absolutely need the expertise of the NEF. Draxon agrees when he learns of it, outright ordering Quentius to beg, bribe, and promise anything he has to in order to obtain their aid. It gets even worse next chapter, when the Volus ambassador is given ''official'' carte blanche to promise anything the NEF wants.

* GodzillaThreshold: After [[spoiler:something gets loose on Palaven's moon from the NEF ship they captured]], Quentius decides they absolutely need the expertise of the NEF. Draxon agrees when he learns of it, outright ordering Quentius to beg, bribe, and promise anything he has to in order to obtain their aid.

* DidntSeeThatComing: Lieutenant Sarena Korvol, who at this point has interviewed countless Turian [=POWs=] as per standard procedure, is completely flabbergasted when [[spoiler:Marlus Vicion starts talking about his research on ancient Turian magic and experimenting on his equipment.]]

** Marlus Vicion is described as oddly cheerful and jovial even under the threat of a gun because [[spoiler:he's too excited talking about his research to anyone who'll listen.]]
* DraftDodging: The Turian Hierarchy starts facing a rising number of teen pregnancies, sports accidents, and simple falls from Turians who want to avoid bootcamp, and thus being sent off to war with the NEF. One doctor has two patients in a row who are pregnant teens looking to confirm.

* EveryManHasHisPrice: For the Salarians, it's Paxel, a drug produced by the NEF that increases their lifespan by ten years with a single dose. While subsequent doses do nothing, a lifespan increase of twenty-five percent means they're eager to pay nearly any price in order to get some. While officially the Salarian Union is uninvolved with the NEF, unofficially, individuals are paying massive amounts of credits, ships, and even intel on the Turians in order to get some.

** In a canon omake, the Federation opens an "outreach center" in the Citadel. It's acting as a business instead of an embassy, and they skip the "no trade with humans" part by simply offering free samples of human cooking to everyone and accepting donations to arrange communications with [=POWs=] (with the implication that bigger donations ensure the communication happens sooner).

* TheMagicComesBack: [[spoiler:Sergeant and Archeology/Mythology Professor Marlus Vicion discovered that Iron Age Turians were taught BloodMagic by beings only known as the "Titans" to Awaken the Spirits that live within objects... And he figured out how to do it. With any given Turian-made object.]]

* BloodMagic: [[spoiler:A Turian sergeant named Marlus Vicion, who used to teach history and mythology at a university prior to the war, figured out through his research and dumb luck that Iron age Turians could use rune engravings and blood sacrifices to Awaken the Spirits of their weapons, enhancing their properties beyond what's possible by conventional physics. He is able to replicate the trick with every Turian-made object, though since the volume of blood required increases depending on the size of the object, it's highly probable that sacrificing living people becomes necessary after a threshold.]]

* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: The entire war could've been averted if Gallus hadn't jumped the gun and ordered his men to open fire on the humans inspecting a dormant mass relay.

* {{Irony}}:
** Lampshaded by Captain Jorus who notes that, for all their claims of trying to prevent another Rachni War, the Turian Hierarchy is doing a good job of starting one.
** The Volus ambassador manages to meet with Nator to arrange contacting the Federation, as he hopes their support will help in the Volus achieving independence, is leaving happy that he managed to do it... [[spoiler:and he promptly gets a call from a Primarch, begging him to get in touch with the Federation so they can help stop the disaster that's going through Menae]].

* WhatWereYouThinking: [[spoiler: Primarch Draxon's response to learning that Councilor Sparatus was warned that the NEF ship the turians had discovered was potentially dangerous, only to completely ignore said warning and bring the ship into the heart of the Turian Hierarchy, definitely invokes this trope. Draxon is beyond livid that despite knowing the humans are capable of supernatural feats, Sparatus just completely ignored any evidence that there might be something wrong with the ship and had it brought to Menae]].

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Councilor Sparatus has quickly become this to not just humanity, but to the majority of Citadel space due to his being more or less responsible for the war lasting as long as it has with his [[FantasticRacism Fantastically Racist]] CulturalPosturing. Even many turians in the Hierarchy have come to despise Sparatus for condemning their race to a war that has cost them so much. After being captured and taken to a POW camp, Adrien is warned that expressing any support of Sparatus is a really good way to catch a beating.

* CassandraTruth: Quentius tried to warn the Hierarchy that it is a VERY bad idea to declare war on humanity.

* FamedInStory: Colonel Tarkin is considered a legends a couple years into the war, due to being one of the only surviving (and sane) Turians from the start of the conflict.

* MemeticBadass: InUniverse it's suggested that the reason Admiral Slade is OlderThanHeLooks is because time is afraid to age him.

* MythologyGag: Sparatus makes air quotes when invoking the memory of the Aeon War.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: After being taken prisoner, Adrien is released remarkably easy with no assurances he'll follow through on his promise to get the rest of the Turians in Carista to surrender. [[spoiler:This turns out to be because not only is their only possible escape route being watched as well, but the Turian general in charge of Digeris is already planning on surrendering the entire planet]].

* GodzillaThreshold: After [[spoiler:something gets loose on Palaven's moon from the NEF ship they captured]], Quentius decides they absolutely need the expertise of the NEF.

* HonestyIsTheBestPolicy: The Turians avert this. A far-right group presents a proposal to increase the already intolerable levels of pressure on the Turian client states to truly draconian levels; the proposal was tossed into the garbage, but the group immediately launched an Extranet campaign, painting themselves as the only reasonable voice to win the war. The Primarchs covered the whole thing, but the Turian sent to oversee negotiations with the Volus confesses, hoping to invoke the trope. Instead, the cover-up works as the straw that breaks the camel's back and prompts the Volus ambassador to throw his support to a cabal angling to sever the dependence between Turian and Volus.

*** Quentius hopes he can convince the Primarchs to stop or delay the attempt at reverse-engineering the ship, while one of his partners suggests a ceasefire deal that could eventually lead to actual peace. [[spoiler:The research team enters the ship and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero unseals the]] [[SealedEvilInACan room that contained the creatures that murdered the crew]], allowing them to prowl Menae.]]

** The sad fate of the few Turian officers that preferred not to poke the bear.

* StarfishAliens: The Migou.

* OneMansTrashIsAnothersTreasure: As part of a possible future Human-Quarian trading agreement, the Quarians are given a pile of comparatively worthless human gear, that the Quarians can then sell for an enormous amount. Humanity is fully aware of this.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Right after Din, the Volus ambassador, sends out feelers for meeting with the Federation, he's contacted by Palaemon, one of the Turian Primarchs. The turian ''begs'' him to get in contact with the Federation, even promising to make an oath that'd functionally make him Din's slave if he does. This makes Din realize his claims that he's dealing with something that could destroy the Hierarchy are NotHyperbole and Din sprints back towards the Quarian he met in order to bribe him into making the meeting a priority.

* {{Irony}}: Lampshaded by Captain Jorus who notes that, for all their claims of trying to prevent another Rachni War, the Turian Hierarchy is doing a good job of starting one.