• aprx. 2000 BC

Global conflict on the Krogan homeworld of Tuschanka results in a nuclear winter, reducing the species into primitive clans.

• aprx. 0900 BC

The Asari become the first to discover the Citadel. The Salarians arrive shortly after and together they colonize it and begin develop the society that would become Citadel Space.

• aprx. 0183 AD

Salarians rescue the Krogan from the self-created nuclear winter by giving them advanced technology and relocating them to a more hospitable planet in order to use them as soldiers. The Krogan population quickly explodes.

At the same time the Council was engaged in a prolonged galactic war with the Rachni. However once the Krogan population grows, they are able to successfully eradicate the Rachni from existence, ending the Rachni Wars.

• aprx. 1100 AD

In what would become known as the Krogan Rebellions, the Krogan used their newfound power to establish colonies by force. When they started conflict with the Turians, the Turians responded by infecting the Krogan with the genophage, which made only 1 in 1000 Krogan births successful.

The Turians are rewarded with a seat on the Citadel Council.

• aprx. 1900 AD

Quarians create an evolving artificial intelligence call the Geth. When the Geth evolve to the point of being self-aware, the Quarians fear rebellion and act quickly in an attempt to destroy the Geth. They are too late, however, as the Geth fight for their survival and win the resulting war, driving the Quarians off the planet and into a nomadic lifestyle on the Quarian Flotilla.

• 2069 AD

Humans establish their first settlement on the moon on July 24th, the 100th anniversary of the first lunar landing.

• 2103 AD

Humans establish their first settlement on Mars.

• 2148 AD

Humanity discovers a small cache of highly advanced alien technology hidden deep beneath the surface of Mars. Building on the remnants of this long extinct race – known as the Protheans – humanity quickly masters the science of mass effect fields, leading to the development of faster than light travel.

• 2149 AD

Spreading out through their own solar system, humanity uses the discovered Prothean data to discover that Charon, Pluto’s moon, is actually a massive piece of dormant Prothean technology – a mass relay – encased in ice.

Once activated, humanity discovers that the mass relay allows instantaneous travel across thousands of light years to a synchronized mass relay in another part of the galaxy.

There they discover several more dormant relays. Over the next decade humanity expands rapidly, establishing colonies and activating dormant relays to open up more and more unexplored regions of space.

Humans establish the Systems Alliance to coordinate exploration and colonization of extra-solar worlds.

• 2151 AD

A Shipping accident at Singapore International Spaceport exposes downwind communities to containers of dust-form element zero.

Alliance begins construction of Arcturus Station.

• 2154 AD

John Shepard is born.

• 2155 AD

To defend its rapidly expanding empire, humanity assembles a massive fleet and constructs an enormous military space station at the nexus of several key mass relays…even though they have yet to encounter another intelligent space-faring species.

The Alliance begins to move into the completed portions of the Arcturus Station.

• 2156 AD

It is discovered that some children in Singapore are exhibiting telekinetic abilities.

• 2157 AD

Humanity makes first contact with another space-faring culture: the Turians. Unfortunately, the encounter is far from peaceful. Over the next several months a brief, but tense, conflict ensues which would come to be known as the “First Contact War” to Humans and the “Relay 314 Incident” to Turians. During the conflict, the Alliance’s Shanxi colony becomes occupied by the Turians.

This conflict draws the attention of the Citadel Council – a multi-species government body that maintains peace and stability throughout the known galaxy. The Council intervenes before hostilities escalate further, revealing the existence of the greater galactic community to humanity and brokering a peace between them and the Turians.

• 2159 AD

The Citadel Council sees Saren Arterius as intelligent, cunning, and capable and name him a SPECTRE, making him the youngest Turian to receive the honor.

• 2160 AD

Systems Alliance Parliament formed.

• 2165 AD

Humanity continues to expand, founding more colonies and establishing trade alliances with many of the other species who recognize the authority of the Citadel Council. The Council makes official recognition of humanity’s growing power and influence in the galactic community. Humanity is granted an embassy on the Citadel, the political and economic heart of the galaxy.

• 2170 AD

Batarian slavers attack the Alliance colony of Mindoir.

• 2176 AD

Pirates and slavers attack the Human capital of the Skyllian Verge in what would become known as the Skyllian Blitz.

• 2177 AD

Thresher maws devour the Alliance colony of Akuze.

• 2178 AD

An Alliance fleet wipes out an army of slavers on the moon of Torfan in retaliation for the Skyllian Blitz.

• 2183 AD

Commander Shepard is assigned to the crew of the SSV Normandy, the most advanced prototype vessel ever designed.

Eden Prime, one of the first Human settlements outside of their home system, is attacked and sacked by the Geth. Under the direction of a rogue SPECTRE named Saren Arterius, they gain control of a Prothean Beacon for unknown reasons. Only a relative handful of survivors escape the colony.

Commander Shepard, carrying news of the sack of Eden Prime and Saren’s status as a rogue SPECTRE, is named as the first Human SPECTRE in history. He is tasked with finding Saren, discovering his intentions, and bringing the rogue agent to justice.

The Geth strike again, this time attacking a research settlement on Feros. Shepard and his team deal with the threat. The records of the event are sealed, and much of the public questions the Council’s insistence on confidentiality.

Shepard then heads to Noveria, following Saren’s financial interests and a few reports of Geth sightings. The records of the incident on Noveria are also sealed, though a few survivors of the Peak 15 Facility claim to have been attacked by Geth as well as unidentified, insectoid creatures.

• 2184 AD

After nearly six months of limited sightings, almost exclusively on frontier worlds, the Geth suddenly launch an attack against the Citadel itself. The fleet is lead by a massive, unidentified vessel. Commander Shepard, in conjunction with the Alliance’s celebrated Fifth Fleet (under command of Admiral Hackett) and the Citadel Fleet, beats back the assault. The massive Geth flagship is destroyed, and the attack is routed. Casualties number in the hundreds of thousands.

At the climax of the assault, Saren Arterius and John Shepard take part in a dramatic duel in the Council Chamber itself. Shepard is victorious, and Saren is destroyed. His body is seized immediately by Citadel authorities, and the public is denied any access to or information regarding the slain rogue.

Due to their large role in defending the Citadel from the Geth assault, as well as Shepard’s relentless pursuit of Saren, the Council grants the Alliance a Council Representative. David Anderson (formerly a Captain in the Alliance Navy, and widely viewed as Shepard’s mentor) is awarded the position.

• 2185 AD

Present day. Humanity is still settling into their role as a Council race, and the Geth have mostly retreated back into the Terminus Systems. Pirate activity in the Skylian Verge is on the rise.