User blog comment:4Ferelden/A possible plotline for ME4./@comment-4319257-20121127090538

A very interesting read. Overally I find it very plausible, but I don't agree with everything. Let's look into some issues:

The endings. Well... You decided to go with the existing "artistic" endings and I applaud your courage:) Seriously, was I to theorize about a possible sequel, I'd just said "screw this, the endings never happened". Let's look at the green one. You assume, that "the supposed mind link has become fractured and unwanted amongst the general populace", which is perfectly logical, except that we do not know whether said populace retained any measure of individuality to disagree with something. What if they become something like a geth consensus, albeit on galactic scale, and are perfectly fine with it? I don't know... If the whole DNA of each species was re-written, I doubt they even think like former selves. Not that I'm comfortable with Shepard changing each inhabitant of the galaxy on a molecular level... by jumping into a beam of light O_o. In case of Control ending we do not know if the Reaper master AI (formerly known as Commander Shepard, except that it's not Shepard anymore) is really up to? being the "guardian" of the galaxy might as well mean, that relying on the force of the Reapers, AI will maintain total control over all political life in the galaxy to prevent any possible instability and potential danger. In a nutshell: behave well or I'll eliminate you. Red ending: seems to be the most plausible here and perfectly fits your theory about various societies scattered, famines, epidemies and it's consequences, since in the red ending organic forces achieve a victory very close to pyrrhic. Gotta ask you a question: what if Shepard is alive? Because s/he might theoretically be alive in "Destroy" and that would have an impact on the future. All in all, if Bioware decides to continue the franchise, I'd say they have to choose one ending and make it canonical, because accounting for all variabilities with four endings is impossible. That, of course, if the hypothetical ME4 will be a sequel, not a prequel.

I liked the idea of Isolationists, it's very plausible. Though I kinda doubt whether they'd form factions with anyone. Forming factions doesn't sound very isolationistic:)

A few comments about other species/factions.

Asari. I highly doubt they would lose power, I'd go even so far to theorize that they would gain even more power by becoming more aggressive, because if the whole Reaper war was to teach them anything, it would be having less strippers and more commandos. Consider: Earth held for about three months before it was over. What about Thessia? It was attacked the last, and after the initial defeat of planetary defense the Reapers simply wouldn't have time to harvest the population. This all "Thessia is lost" was just for the drama effect, because right after Thessia you go to a quick mission in Sanctuary, then a blitz against Cerberus, then on Earth and then it's over. So for how long Thessia was having Reapers all over it? A week? Maybe even less? Nah, the asari are okay. That, of course, if their prothean legacy doesn't come out on the surface, because in this case other species might as well start to hunt asari with torches and pitchforks.

Salarians. Since Sur'Kesh wasn't even attacked, I concur, the salarians will have much more power now.

Batarians. I concur, their civilization is done for. Good riddance I say:)

Quarians. I wouldn't put them in "possibly extinct" section, unless you make them extinct by siding with the geth:) If an optimal choice of making peace is made, quarians get lucky for the first time in their history. They receive two systems virtually unscathed by the Reapers, with all resources intact, because the geth didn't use them. Also the geth themselves seem to have a bit of a guilt complex, so they sure as hell will help quarians rebuild, and that would be extremely fast, considering the efficiency of the geth. The only problem quarians seem to have is their small numbers, so they'd better breed like bunnies to become a major power once again:)

Krogan. Depends. If Wrex and Eve are in power and the genophage is cured, krogan might as well become a Council race just like humans did and for the same reasons. If Wrex and Eve are not in power and the cure was sabotaged, the krogan are extinct. If Wrex and Eve are not in power, but the genophage was cured, I'd say some idiotic warmonger (like Wreav) would take over, and then it will be fun. Krogan Rebellions #2, but this time I guess turians and humans will simply bomb them into oblivion, because krogan still don't have a fleet.

Elcor and volus. Well... It's a complex issue. We need to account for the fact that nobody seemed to give a damn about Decuuna, the elcor homeworld, and since it's all plains and I don't think the elcor are much into bomb shelters, the Reapers might as well inflict heavy casualties on the elcor, putting them into a position of little difference when compared with the batarian one. If not, elcor are still very reluctant of accepting change, so I doubt they'd start augmenting themselves with tech in 50-80 years. Why didn't they do it before? Plus, relying on tech can be tricky when some salarian or quarian makes a few taps on the omni-tool and waves bye-bye to all your tech:) Plus, the elcor are the first among all exposed to asari propaganda of making friends with everyone (and were exposed to it for millenia), so I doubt they'd start muscling in. The volus... Well, those guys really want power, but where do they get resources from? Their patrons, the turian Hierarchy will sure as hell prioritize them for turians first. they trade with other species extensively, but since most of the economies are in ruin, who will they trade with to obtain technology, resources, manpower? All in all, I just... can't take the volus seriously:) As my friend wrote "volus are like ewoks for me: their purpose is to be small and cute, nothing else really :3" You made a good job at tackling the whole issue though, elcor and volus didn't get much attention at all in ME1-2-3.

Leviathan. That's where it gets really controversial. You say it would be boring to fight the same damn Reapers, only organic. Same shit, different day, so to speak. I couldn't agree more, it would be boring as hell, but it's Bioware we're talking about. They are not into originality as of late. Seriously, continuing with the same same enemies is perfectly in line with EA milking the franchise to death. Lore-wise, the Leviathan still retain the mindset of the whole galaxy being an experiment, and it's inhabitants are little more then lab-rats in this experiment, so I guess leviathan are up to something nasty. But making the yahg their mooks is logical and you had a very good idea there.

The Council. My opinion can be very biased here, because I'm a diehard Council loyalist (the same goes to asari and quarians), but nevertheless... I agree, that they will lose territory, but I'd say they will have more power then before the war for several reasons. First, they won the war, while their main antagonists, the batarians, are devastated. winning the greatest war in galactic history makes others respect you:) Second, they will sure become more close-knit and united, and that will be very beneficial for them too. Third, despite heavy casualties and ruined planets they are still in better position then everyone else excluding the quarians, so I guess if you're in deep shit, but everyone else is even deeper, that makes you more powerful then everyone else. I suspect they will have the fastest time to recover because of their unity and mutual cooperation and then start colonizing the Isolationists. And I doubt the Isolationist will be in any position to resist, because of, well, their isolation.

Anyway, those were my thoughts on the matter. Good blog and good ideas!