The franchise of mass effect is named after the phenomena that revolutionised technology,
science and almost every aspect of life across numerous civilizations in the milky way galaxy
and even beyond. The mass effect. This effect alters the state of an object’s, well…
mass. As the name implies. All civilizations of Mass Effect rely on this quirk of dark
energy, from faster-than-light travel, to the seeming superpowers of biotics and even
a toothbrush. Hello, Ric here and this video continues the
lore of the mass effect series as we delve into its organisations, technology and history.
The discovery of the mass effect for humanity and the systems alliance came when they unearthed
the Prothean ruins on mars. Among the archives of schematics and recorded knowledge of this
long-gone civilization was a small sample of a previously unknown element.
This element seemed to have an atomic weight of zero and therefore was termed, element
zero, or eezo for short. This seemed to be different from the theoretical neutronium
that is hypothesized to be comprised entirely of neutrons only. As like Neutronium, Element
Zero has an atomic weight of zero, but it also exhibited a unique property.
It could generate dark energy. This dark energy had a strange relation to gravitational forces
and even the mass of an object. Specifically, when a positive electrical current was run
through the eezo, the resulting dark energy field it created increased the mass of object
within its range. Running a negative current through it decreased the mass with the same
scale. This was termed the mass effect. Element Zero is produced naturally in very
small quantities when matter interacts with a supernova. The chances of its production
are slim and it often requires an object of almost planetary scale to capture or create
it. For this reason, good places to find Eezo are systems with depleted stars in them, neutron
stars and pulsars and the like. Mining the stellar debris in the system often yields
a decent amount of this rare commodity, but fortunately, not a lot is required to generate
mass effect fields. Soon and with the aid of the Prothean archives,
researchers began to find practical uses for the mass effect first and foremost being FTL
travel. A ship is able to generate a mass effect field from its drive core, effectively
a large eezo reactor, which then reduces the mass of the vessel and its contents enough
so that it circumvents the massive energy requirements for relativistic travel. Thrust
is applied and off you fly. This also avoids the time dilation that would be created from
travelling near the speed of light, the final outcome being a very convenient way to traverse
the galaxy without distorting space or time for the occupants of a vessel. Light-years
can be traversed in a matter of hours. This is taken to the extreme with the Mass
Relays. These systems are colossal, nine-mile long, element zero-fuelled stations that are
as ancient as the Protheans, if not older. Well, they are defiantly older and part of
the galactic web of abandoned artefacts that litter inhabited space. These relays are made
of the same material as the Citadel Space Station, meaning that they resists scans and
are indestructible to most attempts to enter them. What we do know is that upon receiving
a signal for activation, (and the mass calculation for a ship) they reach out to a neighbouring
relay, light-years away and the two link to form a corridor of mass effect fields that
reduce mass to a near infinitesimal amount. Being accelerated through one of these corridors
is far faster than even the strongest Drive Core can achieve and is how inter system travel
is achieved in moments. The exact science behind these constructs is mostly speculation
based on observed effects due to their hardy nature and the fact that risking one damage
would effectively cut off a system from the greater galaxy. Any inhabitants of a system
without a relay would have to resort to conventional FTL travel which would still take hundreds
of years to journey beyond their system, so no one wants to risk dissecting one in case
they break it. Element zero also has an effect on the nervous
system of those exposed to it. The most well-known example is the production of biotics. Again,
we’ll use humanity’s experience with the phenomena as the example. Around 2150 as humanity
was getting to grips with its newfound space-faring age, there were several ship accidents that
detonated drive cores over populated planets. The resulting element zero dust was dispersed
over these populous and none showed any ill effects. For a while afterwards, it was thought
to be the end of the story until it was discovered that some in utero foetuses had their nervous
systems affected, causing the growths of nodes. Some of these infants died and many had no
apparent effects while others suffered from related conditions throughout their life.
Upon encountering the greater galactic community, humanity learned of the existence of Biotics
and that they were formed from element zero exposure and so research began on these affected
individuals. After much trial and error, it was confirmed that some of these affected
individuals, around 1 in 10, could generate and manipulate dark matter in a similar fashion
to element zero itself. Through the creation of implants grafted to the nervous system,
they could even control this ability, though it required a great deal of training and burned
a lot of energy. These people, with much training could accomplish
a myriad of feats that were supernatural. The Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training
was an Alliance-Conatix Industries training program for just this purpose. Using the manipulation
of mass effect fields, they effectively became telekinetic. They could levitate things with
their powers, throw objects around and even generate singularities. One of the more advanced
abilities had them create barriers of mass that could slow, deflect or halt projectiles
passing through. Their gravity defying abilities quickly saw military use and the biotic research
continued at a rapid pace, improving upon the implants and training required to produced
ever more powerful biotics and new abilities are constantly being innovated.
In other military applications, the firearms industry was overhauled too. Mankind soon
coupled the use of magnetically accelerated projectiles with the mass effect fields. Most
standard firearms work in the same fashion, a small sliver of material, microns thick,
is shaved off an ammo block and then propelled through the accelerator while mass effect
fields reduce its mass so that it flies at lethal speeds. This effectively negates the
need for ammunition as a single block can last for thousands of rounds, the only limiting
factor being that this systems is prone to overheating with rapid use.
This same principle is applied to ship combat too, with mass accelerators being the primary
means of attack on many vessels. Another use for mass effect fields came with
the creation of kinetic barriers. These are effectively shields that are projected from
mass effect emitters around a person or ship. These fields are calibrated in such a way
that they, like a Biotic’s barrier, deflect incoming projectiles. The faster an object
strikes them, the more pronounced the effect so slow moving objects are generally unaffected.
This is why you can still interact with everyday objects with the kinetic barriers raised;
a human is incapable of moving fast enough to trigger them.
Most of these technologies were designed based on the blueprints and records left on Mars
by the Protheans and humanity is still honestly struggling to understand the principles behind
most of them. Even the other species of the galaxy all evolved along similar lines, discovering
Prothean relics, experimenting, reverse engineering and toying with their findings, mimicking
the creations of beings whose understanding of physics far outstripped our own.
Of course, by the ending of the first game, we have learned that the Protheans too were
simply recreating the relics of civilizations before them and that the origin of the mass
effect can be traced back to the Reapers in a cycle of development and extinction. However,
it seems that even in a galaxy untouched by the ancient menace, like Andromeda, there
are species who have discovered element zero and created their own versions of the mass
effect based technologies to explore. Although without the Mass Relay network, inter stellar
travel is more inaccurate and slower paced. The Kett for example actually use a form of
warp drive by generating bending space time using mass effect fields. This is faster than
conventional FTL speeds, but a far cry from the power of the Relays.
So there we have it. Mass effect fields are the creation of the element zero and they
are the Mass Effect universe’s big suspension of disbelief. Much of the technology created
for this mythos could theoretically work if you could accept the existence of this mass
changing super element and that’s, to me is a strong display of consistency in a science
fiction universe. Thanks for listening to this lore video on
mass effect. There’s so much this galaxy has to explore and I look forwards to sifting
though it to find some interesting topics. So until the next video, I’ve been Ric and
I’ll see you out there. Goodbye.