Line #17 Fanfic/RenegadeReinterpretations


1	''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7170477/1/Renegade_Reinterpretations Renegade Reinterpretations]]'' is a ''Franchise/MassEffect'' AlternateUniverseFic by College Fool, written more in the style of a counterfactual historical document than a traditional narrative.
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3	Stop me if you've heard this one before. A freshfaced new race, barely out of its gravity well, discovers the remnants of precursor technology and uses it to bootstrap itself to the stars, only to be hampered by an older race with a hostile interest. Sound familiar?
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5	Not quite. 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.
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7	The story thus continues into a option-by-option rewrite of the events of the games, with a much less nice humanity in play. As a result, there is no more Paragon/Renegade divide; the divide this time is between "Xenonationalism" and "Assimilationism". Both are aspects of Renegade, but with their own nuances. Advocates of the former are xenophobic, self-centered, [[FantasticRacism specist]] and arrogant...yet recognizing the necessity of cooperation and compromise while being strongly against coercion. The latter are idealistic, wish for aliens to be a part of the galactic landscape, and seek to improve the world...via humanity doing the fixing, being paternalistic, and never taking no for an answer.
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9	Although it is effectively finished, that happened before the release of [=ME3=] and the author has stated that he has no interest in revising it for the trilogy-ender.
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11	Compare and contrast ''Fanfic/MassEffect2AULanius'', another ''Franchise/MassEffect'' AlternateUniverseFic by the same author. Also contrast two separate response fics both titled ''Paragon Reinterpretations'', one by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8943770/1/Paragon-Reinterpretations MB18932]] and the other by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8713138/1/Paragon-Reinterpretations RillyB.Dilly]], that take the Paragon route instead. College Fool himself talked about writing a fic of that type, called ''Paragon Persuasions'', but never got to it.
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13	----
14	!!This fanfic contains examples of the following:
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16	* AboveGoodAndEvil: The work tries to reconstruct Morinth as amoral, clearly distinguishing it from her psychopathic canon behavior.
17	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: 'Mordin is an awesome character as it is, and not simply for his Simply Sublime Scientific Salarian Singing Skills.'
18	* [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys All Asari Want Bad Humans]]: In this fic, Asari who are attracted to humans tend to view them as "[[TroubledButCute wounded bad boys]]" who need "[[PuritySue the gentle love of an Asari heroine]]" to "[[LoveRedeems reform]]" them.
19	* AscendedExtra: Kasumi, canonically a [[DownloadableContent DLC character]], becomes part of Cerberus and one of Shepard's starting companions in [=ME2=] alongside Miranda.
20	** Kelly's role is expanded, with her being allowed to act as a true ship's counselor and potentially become a proper love interest for Shepard.
21	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Hey, [[spoiler:Thane]] fans! Annoyed your favorite character didn't have an ''obvious'' place to shine during the Suicide Mission? One part's specifically dedicated to ''you'', where [[spoiler:success ''or'' failure equals a sure death, but opting not to send anyone leads to other teammates dying down the line]]!
22	* BrainsAndBrawn: [[spoiler:Okeer and Grunt come as a package deal here, unlike in canon. Okeer doesn't do any fighting, so it's still Grunt who's the frontline companion.]]
23	* BrickJoke: After hearing various tall tales about the (unrecruitable) Batarian OneManArmy and summarily dismissing the idea he exists, Shepard can find a dossier on him in the Shadow Broker's files.
24	* ChildSoldiers: [[spoiler:Morinth]] is one -- at least, by the standards of [[spoiler:the Asari]].
25	* CloneArmy: See below.
26	* 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. However, 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.
27	* CompositeCharacter: [[spoiler:With a dose of LegacyCharacter. Jack was the original Subject Zero, but that was a long time ago. Miranda is a clone, but also exhibiting aspects of Jack as a sort of split personality. On the romantic history aspect, that gets merged into Morinth.]]
28	* TheConfidant: Kelly's role as this is expanded; after major decisions, Shepard can now discuss them with her, hear her thoughts, and then choose whether or not to [[IDidWhatIHadToDo justify]] their actions.
29	* CrapsackWorld: While it was never exactly nice place to begin with, [[spoiler:aligning with the Assimilationists 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.]]
30	** None of the other endings are particularly ideal either:
31	*** If the [[HegemonicEmpire Assimilationist]] path is taken and the Omega Base is given to the alliance then:
32	*** 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.]]
33	*** 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 [[OhCrap build their own relays]].]]
34	** If Assimilationist Shepard gives the base to the council:
35	*** 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, constitute at least one council race, are exiled to the Terminus.]]
36	*** Failure: [[spoiler: Humanity's poor leadership of the galaxy during the Reaper War leads to a war between the Council and Alliance. Humans fare poorer here than in the above failure timeline and is reduced to a Turian vassal.]]
37	** The Xenonationalist path is better, [[DamnedByFaintPraise but not by a lot]].
38	** If the Xenonationalist route is taken and the Council is given the Collector Base:
39	*** Victory: is actually a rather nice ending.
40	*** Failure: [[spoiler:Humanity remains a Citadel Race [[PyrrhicVictory but is distrusted and isolated by the rest of the galaxy]] [[{{Irony}} in much the same way the Batarians were.]]]]
41	** If Xenonationalist Shepard gives the base to the alliance:
42	*** Victory: [[spoiler: Humanity uses the base to become the strongest race in the galaxy, leaving the rest of the galaxy in the dust.]]
43	*** Failure: [[spoiler: Humanity has its council status removed and falls behind the Citadel developmentally. [[CrapsackOnlyByComparison It still does quite well for itself though]].]]
44	** If Xenonationalist Shepard gives Cerberus the Base:
45	*** Victory: [[spoiler: Humanity studies and harnesses Reaper-tech before the rest of the Galaxy, becoming a leading power. Human {{Mega Corp}}s 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, [[TheConspiracy which almost no one even knows about]], [[KarmaHoudini much less can challenge.]]]]
46	*** Failure: [[spoiler:Humanity has the same fate as in the Alliance Base/Failure ending, but is much less able to recover. Cerberus eventually pulls strings to have the Alliance re-admitted into Council space.]]
47	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Several feature in the revamped Suicide Mission, but special mention must be given to the fate of the [[spoiler:infiltration/tech]] specialist: [[spoiler:burning to death in a matter of seconds]].
48	* CurbStompBattle: At the start, even the weakest Batarian rent-a-mook tears through several times his number in humans.
49	* DarkerAndEdgier: The [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} classical]] GrimDark SpaceMarine would now be quite at home in this galaxy. Hell, the rank and file ground soldiers of humanity ''are'' actual Space Marines, given the naval terminology of the Alliance interstellar forces; they just now live up to the term.
50	* 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]].
51	* DeathOrGloryAttack: The Assimilationist endings give the possibility of putting humanity in the worst possible positions... but also the best, if you see human dominance as good. Xenonationalist by comparison is more moderate; there's no way to get an overwhelmingly bad end-condition for humanity, but no very good one either.
52	* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The darker tone of RR's Suicide Mission becomes undeniably clear with the fate of the [[spoiler:infiltration/tech]] specialist. Specifically, [[spoiler:they're sent inside the vents with the belief they can be retrieved, only to be lost regardless of success or failure because of a simple sealed hatch]].
53	* EveryoneHasStandards: Even Morinth doesn't find much pleasure in seducing and killing the company Hock finds himself in.
54	* TheExtremistWasRight: Or, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_arma_enim_silent_leges Inter arma enim silent leges]]'': With the survival of the species genuinely on the line, all Cerberus research programs are seen as justified, even by the Alliance, regardless of ethical concerns.
55	** ''Especially'' by the Alliance: [[spoiler:after uncovering the horrors of the Teltin facility via the escape of several project subjects, the Alliance [[IDidWhatIHadToDo returns the escapees, and helps Cerberus shore up security]]]].
56	* FourIsDeath: [[spoiler:You get the "Minimal Losses" achievement if you manage to make it through the Suicide Mission with ''only'' four deaths.]]
57	* GeneticMemory: Used for [[spoiler:Subject Zero Miranda]].
58	* GoldenEnding: Explicitly averted with [[spoiler:the Suicide Mission; there is NO way to save them all unlike canon.]]
59	* GrayAndGreyMorality: The Xenonationalism and Assimilation views. While the former are suspicious, racist, and all-around jerks, they're willing to compromise with the other species, always keep their word, 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.
60	* HeroicNeutral: This is Xenonationalism in a nutshell-it states that it is the right of all beings to not have outsiders meddle in their affairs. All of its choices are based around isolating humanity from alien influence, or ensuring the free will of sentient life in general.
61	* IfICantHaveYou: The Shadow Broker, realizing that he can't have Shepard alive, tries to have him killed.
62	* InterspeciesRomance: Just like in the original universe, Shepard can romance Garrus, Tali, Thane, [[spoiler:or Morinth]], whichever side of the GrayAndGreyMorality spectrum they fall on.
63	* KickTheWrongDog: When humanity was striking back against the Batarians through orbital-strike-and-run tactics, they accidentally razed some minor races' property too. In the aftermath, most humans find it to be [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism the fault of those who did business with the Batarians]].
64	* KillItWithFire: During the Suicide Mission, [[spoiler:the infiltration/tech specialist always dies this way, regardless of whether they succeed or not]].
65	* KnightInSourArmor: A key aspect of this universe's Jacob.
66	* LateArrivalSpoiler: PlayedForLaughs in Liara's Dossier, which casually reveals the identity of Archangel while noting that it wouldn't have been revealed during the events being recapped.
67	* MemeticBadass: {{Invoked}} InUniverse, the ShroudedInMyth Batarian Cerberus agent Zaeed: all the war stories his canon counterpart tells are now second- or third-hand accounts.
68	* MoralMyopia: The author suggests that 'If Bioware hadn't tried to play the emotional anvil by having Morinth's only victim with a face be apparently the only young, pretty, white, harmless, nice virgin girl on the pit of vice and sin that was Omega, and instead let it be [[PayEvilUntoEvil some Omega crime boss who caught Morinth's notice for his inner-fire]], most people would find the exact same character a lot less evil.'
69	* NatureVersusNurture: Central to the reimagined Morinth, who is now [[spoiler:a ChildSoldier raised by Cerberus, biologically Asari while culturally Human]].
70	* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: [[spoiler:Sidonis turned traitor this time because the Shadow Broker threatened his last sibling's life.]]
71	* OnlySaneMan: Jacob is explicitly described as one.
72	* OvershadowedByAwesome: Jacob is said to be struggling with the shadow of his much more famous grandfather.
73	* PoorCommunicationKills: When Shepard awakens at the start of [=ME2=], they're drugged up and thinking they're still under attack. The 'tutorial' level becomes Shepard rampaging while Cerberus agents frantically try to get them under control long enough to explain they're not the enemy.
74	* ProlongedPrologue: The backstory takes 41 chapters, with content directly relevant to the first game only showing up in the 42nd.
75	* RedHerring: There are several regarding the best specialists for the different parts of the Suicide Mission.
76	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Once humanity gets the upper hand against the Batarians, you better '''believe''' they go on one.
77	* SadisticChoice: Several, particularly during the reimagined Suicide Mission where certain choices mean [[spoiler:death either way, and it's more a matter of ''how much'' death happens]].
78	* SchrodingersPlayerCharacter: Deliberately averted. There is an entire chapter on that.
79	* ShadowArchetype: [[spoiler: Okeer to Mordin. As put: 'The moral scientist focuses on the weapons of war: the immoral scientist develops life.']]
80	** Turians consider humanity to be this to them.
81	* ShoutOut: Jacob has [[Advertising/TheManYourManCouldSmellLike Spice soap.]]
82	* 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.
83	* ShroudedInMyth: This universe's Zaeed.
84	* SpacePirates: The Corsairs are divided into RuthlessModernPirates IN {{THE FUTURE}}! and genuine Robin Hood types.
85	* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler: Okeer. The fic demonstrates very well just how much Bioware threw away in canon by precluding his recruitment.]]
86	* SpotlightStealingSquad: Discussed and Averted during Liara's Dossier entry for [=ME2=]. The reinterpreted 'Redemption' comic ties [[spoiler:Garrus and Tali]] into the plot. (The author also [[LampshadeHanging notes the irony]] of Liara not being the full focus of her own entry.)
87	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Though it probably qualifies as BlatantLies as well. In the RR-verse, the extranet's largest MMO, Galaxy of Fantasy, which claims influences from Turian mythology but also totally doesn't have in-game groups analogous to all the significant species, was totally not inspired to start a new period of in-game plot development by having the in-game race that was totally not the Batarians instigate a threat to the entire in-game world that is totally not the Galaxy by summoning a terrible, all-destroying presence that is totally not Humanity from the nether-realm that then turned on them and nearly destroyed the world. Really. And the fact that over 95% of Human players sign up as that faction for their first character when it later became playable is just a coincidence as well.
88	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill:
89	** Early human war attempts to fight the Batarians had to rely on this to score victories, thanks to their massive technological inferiority. The most glaring example is that human weapons by and large could not penetrate Kinetic Barriers without using massive amounts of fire to take them down.
90	** The human fleet sent to attack the Batarian Homeworld is described as thus: "The humans went out of their way to look up the largest fleet in galactic history and then overshot that by one-fourth."
91	* TragicVillain: The Council considers humanity to be one, InUniverse--they're sympathetic to what they went through, but think humanity is going ''way'' overboard in retribution and needs to be either put in place or terminated.
92	* {{Tykebomb}}: Cerberus abducted various aliens as babies and raised them to be loyal to humanity. [[spoiler:Morinth is the first Asari they did so with.]]
93	* WeHaveReserves: The only real thing humanity had going for it at the start, especially after the advent of mass-cloning. Subsequent galactic politics involves Council fears of the Humans succeeding where the Krogan uprisings once failed.
94	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Humanity's [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is "Woobie, Conquerer of Worlds".
95	* YouBastard: Seemingly to head off complaints of being too pro-human, the author calls out readers several times for thinking genocide and domination of the other races is a good thing. In response, in their reviews, several readers [[ShutUpHannibal have called him out right back]], with the conviction that in a Them-Or-Us world, it ''is''.
96	* ZergRush: Stated to be the most common Human tactic for most of the war - because that failed less than anything else.

Context Fanfic / RenegadeReinterpretations